BIODEGRADABLE BONANZA.

A REDONDO BEACH BUSINESSMAN IS MARKETING ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY PLASTIC PRODUCTS THAT ARE A BIG HIT WITH OLYMPIC ORGANIZERS AND FAST-FOOD CHAINS

BUSINESS owner Frederic Scheer has a lot on his plate. Make that on his biodegradable plate.

Scheer is founder and chief executive of Biocorp Inc., a 4-year-old company that manufactures garbage bags, paper plates and plastic-like cutlery that -- unlike real plastic -- will disintegrate into practically nothing in a relatively short time.

Dumped in a landfill or compost heap, the biodegradable items break down in one to two months after coming into contact with microorganisms, moisture and high temperatures. "The end product is a soil amendment," Scheer said, while sitting in his Redondo Beach office decorated mostly with mountains of biodegradable paper cups cutlery and garbage bags.

The garbage bags are made of cornstarch and agriculturally based polymers. The cutlery is made of cottonseeds and cornstarch, while the plates and cups are made of paper coated with a biodegradable seal.

Scheer has been trying to promote the greening of America ever since he started up his small company in 1996. But while he has had some success in the United States his major clients are in Australia and Europe where recycling is taken more seriously, Scheer said.

Plastic at the Olympics

His biggest client right now is in Sydney. After eight, 15-hour plane trips to the land Down Under over the past year, the 45-year-old businessman snagged $1 million contract to supply biodegradable garbage bags and eating utensils to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in September. That means Biocorp will be making 30 million products -- forks knives, spoons, drink cups, lids, straws and collection bags -- that will last about as long as people's memory of the games.

"Sydney was interested in greening the games," said Scheer, a Parisian native who still speaks with a slight French accent. "We heard about it and contacted them."

The Olympic Games contract is the biggest ideal Scheer has negotiated so far. But he hopes there are more like it on the way; he's going after contracts for the 2002. Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and the World Cup Soccer Championship in South Korea and Japan in 2002.

Beyond chasing immediate contracts, Scheer is planting what he hopes will be the seeds of long-term growth by educating the world about the benefits of materials that disappear with time.

"Right now, people believe that biodegradable materials are something that comes out of labs instead of factories. The reality is that these products can be used in their daily life," Scheer said.

Scheer, like most people, never used to give the biodegradable world a second thought. He started his career as an investment banker and financial consultant with a law degree from the University of Paris and finance and political science degrees from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris.

After moving to the United States in 1986, he formed a small venture capital company specializing in corporate restructuring deals. When he was hired to work on the breakup of the $23 billion Italian chemical group Montedison SpA, he became interested in one of its subsidiaries, Novamont SpA, which made the resins used in biodegradable products.

With $5 million from friends and family, he bought the North American distribution rights for Novamont's patented resin and set up Biocorp.

Biocorp's first office was located in Scheer's Manhattan Beach home where he lives with his wife and six children. In mid-1997 he set up a new office in a small industrial park in Redondo Beach and hired a part-time employee. Since then, the business has expanded rapidly.

The company has 33 full-time employees and 18 subsidiaries in Europe and Asia. From $500,000 in revenues in 1998 the company generated $4 million last year.

But promoting products that benefit Mother Nature has been a challenge. First, the garbage bags and food utensils cost three times more than their non-biodegradable. counterparts, making them a tough; sell. And many areas of the country and the world have no incentive or mandate to recycle their garbage.

Clients are small firms cities

Most of Biocorp's customers are people like Sharon Barnes who owns Barnes Nursery in Huron, Ohio. Barnes operates a large composting center and needs biodegradable garbage bags that leave nothing behind.

"Good composting sites don't use plastic garbage bags because it becomes an issue in the end product, which is composting soil," said Bames, also president of the U.S. Composting Council.

She began using Biocorp bags last year because they are among the very few brands manufactured without polyethylene or polystyrene compounds that don't entirely breakdown.

Biocorp which has its products manufactured in Europe and Asia, is selling to U.S. municipalities, such as Charlotte, N.C., that have mandatory recycling programs for yard trimmings. Universities, such as the University of Massachusetts in Boston, are incorporating Biocorp's cutlery and plates into their cafeterias. Businesses such as McDonald's Corp. in Europe are going green

and using Biocorp plates and cups.

While the biodegradable products industry in Western Europe, the United State and Japan was estimated to be only a $95 million business in 1998, it is expected to grow to $500 million within three years, according to the Stanford Research Institute.

Scheer plans to be among those participating in that growth.

Spotlight

Biocorp Inc.

Year Founded: 1996

Core Business: Biodegradable garbage bags and food utensils

Revenue in 1998: $500,000

Revenue in 1999: $4 million

Revenue in 2000: $5 million (projected)

Employees 1998: 4

Employees 2000: 33

Goal: To become the leader in biodegradable manufacturing and distribution

Driving Force: Increasing demand for biodegradable products