Honeywell Partners With Metabolix to Develop Marine Biodegradable Ingredients for Personal Care Products

New Asensa^® ingredients will help Honeywell meet increasing demand for biobased, marine biodegradable ingredients in exfoliants and other personal care products

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 3, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Metabolix, Inc. MBLX, an advanced biomaterials company, announced today that it has entered into a global, exclusive commercial and technology alliance with Honeywell to offer new marine biodegradable biopolymers for use in cosmetics and personal care products.

Through the alliance, Metabolix's Mirel^® polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymers will be developed as part of Honeywell's Asensa^® line of personal care additives to help address pending legislation in the U.S. focused on replacing synthetic, non-biodegradable microbeads, as well as global demand for biobased and biodegradable alternatives. This technology is intended to meet increasing regulatory and other requirements around the world for personal care microbeads that biodegrade in marine and fresh water environments. Using applicable ASTM test methods, the marine biodegradability of Mirel PHA biopolymers has been shown to be similar to that of cellulose and paper, and is faster than other commercially available biodegradable polymers.

"Honeywell's alliance with Metabolix will help us meet increasing consumer demand for environmentally friendly personal care ingredients," said Heidi Lebel, global business manager for Honeywell's personal care business. "We look forward to offering new Honeywell Asensa solutions based on Mirel PHA biopolymers that will deliver great exfoliation performance that is gentle on both the skin and the planet."

"With Honeywell's material science expertise and market channels, and Metabolix's history of innovation in sustainable biopolymers, we hope to see a range of new Asensa ingredients introduced to the market through this alliance," said Max Senechal, vice president, strategy and commercial development for Metabolix. "We are excited to work with Honeywell to bring the benefits of Mirel PHA biopolymers that have been shown to be biodegradable in soil, marine and fresh water environments to the personal care market."

About Asensa Cosmetics and Personal Care Ingredients

Honeywell offers a comprehensive line of natural and synthetic personal care additives proven to meet diverse formulation needs. Honeywell Asensa products are used in a variety of end-use applications ranging from lipsticks to moisturizers to pressed powders.

Asensa® is a registered trademark of Honeywell. For more information about Honeywell's Asensa line of personal care ingredients, visit www.asensa.com.

About Metabolix

Metabolix, Inc. is an innovation-driven specialty materials company focused on delivering high-performance biopolymer solutions to customers in the plastics industry. Metabolix's Mirel^® biopolymer resins, which are derived from renewable resources, are a family of biobased performance additives based on PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates). Metabolix's proprietary biotechnology platform enables the creation of specialty biopolymers for use in a broad range of applications such as construction and packaging materials, as well as industrial, consumer and personal care products.

For more information, please visit www.metabolix.com. (MBLX-G)

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release which are not strictly historical, including, without limitation, statements regarding expected results of the alliance with Honeywell, market demand expectations, and commercialization plans for the Company's PHA biopolymer products, constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including the risks and uncertainties detailed in Metabolix's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 filed on March 28, 2014.