Nature always finds the solution

Bio-on, a company that describes itself as an intellectual property company that supplies technologies to produce or use Polyhydroxyalkanoates-(PHAs) through licenses, officially inaugurated a production plant of its own during a  ceremony on June 20th. The new plant will produce PHB and PHBVV bioplastics for high added value niche markets such as the microbeads used in the cosmetics sector. The plant is located in Castel San Pietro Terme, near Bologna, Italy. The theme of the grand opening was  "La natura trova sempre la soluzione" (Nature always finds the solution).

Marco Astorri opening the presentation

In an impressive multimedia presentation, Bio-on's Chairman and CEO Marco Astorri first showed to the more than 300 invited guests the shocking reality of marine pollution caused by plastic waste. Video clips showed birds on a picturesque Pacific atoll, dead from ingesting bottle tops and other litter they had mistakenly thought to be food.

Astorri then showed a few ancient 1950s commercials and the famous scene from "The Graduate", in which plastics are lauded as the material of the future, the presentation focused on the use of microbeads in cosmetics: an exemplary case of plastic waste that is literally washed down the drain. These microbeads, which aserve as thickeners or stabilisers in such widely used products as lipstick, lip gloss, mascara, eye-liner, nail polish, creams, shampoo, foam bath and even toothpaste, pollute the environment; once they are rinsed off after use, they become a permanent part of the natural cycle: they are swallowed by plankton in the rivers and seas and thus enter the food chain, to ultimately end up on our plates.

This provided a convenient segue to introduce PHAs as a family or platform of biobased and biodegradable polyesters in general - and the Minerv PHAs which are to be produced in the new plant, in particular. The first product to be produced at the new plant will be Minerv Bio Cosmetics, the bioplastic microbeads for cosmetics designed to replace the oil-based plastic particles currently used, which are harmful and non-biodegradable. Astorri then introduced Professor Jian Yu from the University of Hawaii in Manoa, with whom Bio-on has been working for 10 years on the development of their Minerv PHA products. And the cooperation will continue. "We have big and (still) secret plans for the future," Marco Astorri said with a smile.
Also attending the ceremony was the former Italian Minster of the Environment, Gian Luca, who praised the commitment shown by Bio-on and the company's willingness to 'invest in the future'.  
The new plant is located on a plot measuring some 30,000 m2; it has 3,700 m2 covered space and 6,000 m2 land for development. The current production capacity is 1,000 tonnes per year, rapidly expandable to 2,000 tonnes/a. The plant is equipped with the very latest technologies and the most advanced research and development laboratories. The overall investment in the production hub and new research laboratories is EUR 20 million.
"We are very pleased because since March 2017, when the first stone was laid, we have kept to our schedule and kept the promises we made to the market," says Marco Astorri. "Our technicians and partners have been incredibly reliable throughout the process."

www.bio-on.it

Claudio Luti, President of Kartell (left) and Marco Astorri, CEO of Bio-on

Grand Opening Ceremony and Party