WEST PALM BEACH -- Belle Glade’s Tellus won the 2021 Business of the Year award from the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches on May 27 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

Tellus is a sugarcane-based sustainable packaging company, with a state-of-the-art $75 million facility in Belle Glade. The company manufactures all natural, plant fiber products to replace items made from styrofoam and other materials.

Tellus uses the bagasse, or plant fiber, from sugarcane and makes it into a slurry where it is molded and dried into differently shaped tableware. A plate made from the plant fiber will fully decompose into the soil in about 90 days.

Styrofoam, on the other hand, is much slower to break down chemically. In addition, styrofoam fragments into small pieces, potentially choking animals that ingest it, clogging their digestive systems.

According to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, styrofoam and other plastic bottles can take over a 1,000 years to fully decompose.

Tellus was nominated for Buisness of the Year along with  Good Samaritan Medical Center, KAST Construction, KEITH, and Verdex Construction.

The award ceremony was the Chamber's first in-person corporate breakfast since February 2020. It was also broadcast live and recorded, enabling virtual attendees to join from the comfort of their own home or office. The annual awards recognize businesses and individuals who demonstrate unwavering commitment to their business and professional goals, their employees, and their respective local communities.