bioplastics MAGAZINE Issue 04/2012

On 4 June 2012 a Biobased Kidshouse sponsored by Purac was opened by the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.

Showa Denko K.K. (SDK), at its Tatsuno Plant in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, has succeeded in producing BionolleTM, a biodegradable aliphatic polyester on a commercial scale using bio-derived succinic acid. SDK has started providing film-grade samples of this product.

New Zealand has extensive forestry, agricultural and horticultural industries that produce significant volumes of biomass waste. Scion, New Zealand’s forestry research institute, is discovering and developing new ways to use biomass that add value and reduce waste.

Bioplastics are still rather expensive and are sometimes (rightly or wrongly) blamed for potential competition with food production. SPC Biotech Pvt. Ltd at Hyderabad, India, has developed a new process for manufacturing PLA, cost effectively, from agro waste such as mango kernel, tamarind seeds, and other locally available agro waste.

In a scientific advance literally plucked from the waste heap, scientists described a key step toward using the billions of pounds of waste chicken feathers produced each year to make a new biobased thermoplastic.

The concept of using protein as a plastic is not novel. While nature has been using protein for structural purposes, Henry Ford was one of the first to make automotive components, such as body panels, from soy protein plastics. Proteins are naturally occurring polymers that consist of amino acids linked together to form a long globular molecular structure.

Animal-based protein for thermoplastic products

Biodegradable food packaging from bakery industry waste

KISICO Verpackungstechnik GmbH of Oestrich-Winkel in Germany has been observing the development of the bioplastics market for many years. At an early date they began developing caps made from different bioplastics.

The Coca-Cola Company, Ford Motor Company, H.J. Heinz Company, NIKE, Inc. and Procter & Gamble announced in early June the formation of the Plant PET Technology Collaborative (PTC), a strategic working group focused on accelerating the development and use of 100% plant-based PET materials and fiber in their products.

Lebensbaum Ulrich Walter GmbH, Diepholz, Germany, a pioneer in the production of organic tea, coffee and herbs recently decided to pack its range of organic teas with Innovia Films’ compostable cellulose-based material, NatureFlex™ NVR. Lebensbaum’s success has been built on a combination of pure tasting ingredients, ecological foresight and social responsibility.

In conjunction with World Environment Day, Ecoplast Technologies Inc (‘Ecoplast’), Wuhan, China, its wholly owned subsidiary in Wuhan, Huali Environmental Technology (‘Huali’), and BASF jointly announced on June 2nd that they have formed a partnership with the Wanke Community in Wuhan to promote composting of source-separated organic waste in certified compostable and fully biodegradable bags made of BASF’s Ecoflex® and Ecoplast’s PSM.

We are now more than half way through the year, and fast approaching yet another (the seventh!) Bioplastics Award. We strongly encourage all our readers to put forward what they feel are potential winners for this ‘Bioplastics Oskar’, which will be presented on November 6th in Berlin.

While most of us know frisbees as toys or leisure goods used by adolescents in parks, for many others these flying discs have a place in serious kinds of sports, i.e. Ultimate, Freestyle, Discgolf and Disc-Dogging.

Before you can enjoy a nice fish meal in a good restaurant the fish has to be scaled. But what happens to the tonnes of fish scales that end up as a byproduct each year?

Producing Bioplastic from Waste

API S.p.A., Mussolente, Italy recently presented a new trekking pole with a biodegradable grip produced in collaboration with Fizan, Rosà, Italy, a leading producer of ski and trekking poles that has always maintained a commitment to using sustainable materials in their manufacturing processes.

Transformation of residual materials and waste water into valuable bioplastics

Under the GreenPack umbrella brand, international packaging manufacturer Leser GmbH from Lahr, Germany is offering its new EARTH series, the first jewellery packaging made from 100% PLA.

Bioplastics provide a sustainable application platform for proteineous meals, such as soy meal, and canola meal etc. that are available in large quantities due to rapid expansion of biodiesel industries [1].

Littering, legal banning and biodegradation in sea water.

Engineering Biopolymers Markets, Manufacturing, Properties and Applications

Tecnaro GmbH, Ilsfeld-Auenstein, Germany closed a contract in 2011 with Braskem from Brazil. Tecnaro produces compounds with sugar cane based Green PE from Braskem in a special product line of the material family ARBOBLEND®.

Gucci, headquartered in Florence, Italy announced the launch of Sustainable Soles, a special edition of eco-friendly women’s and men’s shoes designed by Creative Director Frida Giannini and part of the Prefall 2012 Collection.

‘Bioplastics – The Re-Invention of Plastics‘, a conference that was organized by Yash Khanna (InnoPlast Solutions, Inc) for the second time now attracted about 140 delegates and speakers from twelve countries (North America, Europe and Asia) to San Francisco on June 13 to 15.

In 2009 The Coca-Cola Company launched its PlantBottle, a (partially) bio-based plastic bottle for its Coca-Cola and Dasani brands. In the same year Frito Lay introduced a bio-based chips bag for SunChips.

US demand for bioplastics is forecast to climb at a 20% annual pace through 2016 to 250,000 tonnes, valued at $680 million, as Freedonia, a Cleveland, Ohio, USA based business research company published in a new study titled ‘Bioplastics’.