bioplastics MAGAZINE Issue 06/2016

One of the spaces where 3D printing has the biggest potential for immediate impact is footwear. In the past year various announcements about 3D printing of shoes could be seen. Among the major players were companies such as Nike and Adidas. 3D Printing has obviously hit a tipping point in the field in terms of print quality and material stability.

Decoupling plastic packaging from fossil feedstocks and adopting renewably sourced feedstocks is one of the main challenges the packaging industry is facing today. (Source: The new plastics economy: Rethinking the future of plastics of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.)

Rodenburg, Taghleef and Mars win the 11th Global Bioplastics Award 2016 for a jointly developed Candybar-wrapper made from waste potato starch and recycled PLA

Peeze, the only coffee refinery in the Netherlands that supplies 100% certified coffee, will be the first coffee company in the world using Braskem’s biobased Polyethylene for their coffee packaging. In October, Peeze started replacing its fossil based packaging with biobased packaging partially using Braskem’s Green Polyethylene. By doing this, Peeze will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of its packaging as well as the use of fossil resources. For every kg of I’m green™ Polyethylene used in the Peeze packaging more than 4.5 kg of CO2 is saved.

Polarbröd (Älvsbyn), Sweden’s third largest bakery has taken the decision to convert all of its flexible film requirements from fossil based Polyethylene to Braskem’s bio based Polyethylene. In addition to the perfect fit between packaging and product, the use of Green PE by Polarbröd emphasizes the drive within the company to be more sustainable by moving to a renewable, bio-based polyethylene. Polarbröd will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of its packaging when compared to fossil alternatives and as a result reduce its dependence on fossil resources. Being a renewable feedstock, sugarcane captures and sequestrates CO2 from the atmosphere during every growth cycle, which occurs annually. This means that the production of I’m green™ Polyethylene contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions certainly when compared to conventional polyethylene, made from fossil materials. As a result the carbon footprint of I’m green™ Polyethylene is negative, when considering a “cradle to gate analysis”..

CurTec (Rijen,The Netherlands) recently started manufacturing drums and pots made of Braskem’s Green PE. Biobased Packaging is a great alternative for companies whose core values include environmental sustainability and putting customer needs first. More and more companies incorporate social responsibility into their business model. They are aware of their carbon footprint and strive to make their business more sustainable by investing in wind and solar energy, process innovation and raising environmental awareness of staff.

Not exactly an “Application News”, but still worth mentioning in this magazine is a talk that Kathryn Sheridan (Sutainability Consult) gave at TEDx Ghent this fall.

BioElectroPlast: New Biocatalyst Uses Carbon Dioxide and Regenerative Power for Low-cost Microbial Electrosynthesis

Certification is necessary. And within the scope of this magazine we talk about the certification of the compostability of bioplastics (according to e.g. EN 13432, ASTM D6400 or similar) and the certification of biobased carbon content of bioplastics (according to e.g. ASTM D6866 or EN 16640). Is certification a blessing for this industry or rather a curse? Every now and then you hear arguments like “certification is necessary” … “Yes but the cost” … “each product needs new certification” … etc. bioplastics MAGAZINE spoke to a number of stakeholders.

First of all, I would like to express my thanks for all the warm and heartfelt congratulations that we were privileged to receive for our 10th anniversary. I would also like to thank those who joined our celebration party at the K show. Yet, like all good things, our anniversary year, too, must come to an end - although the good news is that our new series “Published in bioplastics MAGAZINE-10 years ago” will be continued.

At grocery stores, most foods — meat, bread, cheese, snacks — come wrapped in plastic packaging. Not only does this create a lot of non-recyclable, non-biodegradable waste, but too thin plastic films are sometimes not sufficient to prevent spoilage. And some plastics are suspected of leaching potentially harmful compounds into food. To address these issues, scientists are now developing a packaging film made of milk proteins — and it is even edible.

While the olive oil industry is a very important one, it is one that generates large amounts of waste, both solid and liquid. Using the olive oil fractions that are unfit for human consumption without refining to synthesize polymeric materials could offer a plausible solution when no refining plants are nearby.

State-of-the-art impact modifier masterbatches for PLA address the ever increasing demands of performance and aesthetics of the market

Cortec Corporation has long sought to be at the vanguard of producing environmentally friendly corrosion protection solutions. With rust and corrosion remaining a never-ending menace to practically any industry involving metal, the need is great for protecting in-process and finished metal goods during storage or shipping. With increasing environmental regulations and concerns, there is also a growing need for providing corrosion solutions that are biobased or biodegradable.

Personal Care is an important part of everybody’s life, and it’s worth many different daily attentions: choosing a soft and delicate toilet paper is the first act of care for the skin.

In Düsseldorf, end of October, the international plastics and rubber industry presented itself in top shape. Many of the 3,285 exhibitors of K 2016 reported a host of new leads, many of which already led to closed deals over the eight days of the trade fair. 230,000 trade visitors from over 160 countries were welcomed to the exhibition halls over the eight days of K 2016. Both these numbers as well as statements from many exhibitors and visitors confirmed that this year’s K-show was the best ever. Also for the bioplastics industry this K was bigger than before. More than 100 companies were listed in the official catalogue of Messe Düsseldorf under bioplastics. In our K-show preview we already presented some of the bioplastics related products and services presented at K’2016. This review will round off our report with a couple of news items and highlights that we found in Düsseldorf.

Rapid development of compostable and sustainable laminated films enables application in more and more foodstuffs

AIMPLAS acted as the coordinator of a European project that developed multilayer biodegradable and recyclable cheese and fresh pasta packaging comprised of over 75 % biobased content that offers a shelf life at least equal to that of conventional packaging.

Today, fresh food as well as convenience food is sold in packages. Hygienic conditions, long shelf life and easy availability of these packed products account for a high standard of living. However, this convenience contributes to environmental pollution in a significant way, as packaging is mainly made of conventional plastic materials.

Modified PHBHHx with interesting properties for food packaging applications

News, issue 6/2016

Take some orange peels, deprive them of the natural material limonene, oxidize them, and bind them with carbon dioxide: now you’ve got a bio-based plastic material that can be used to produce environmentally friendly functional materials for a vast array of industrial applications at low cost. This eco-friendly all-rounder known as PLimC is now enabling a broad spectrum of high-performance plastics to be manufactured solely on the basis of renewable resources. This was discovered by a research team at the University of Bayreuth (Germany), and the findings were published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

11th European Bioplastics Conference in Berlin attracted 300 experts from around the world

The European SuperBIO project supports the development of value chains producing biobased materials, chemicals, fermentation products, innovative food/feed ingredients and advanced liquid or gaseous fuels – this includes biobased polymers and plastics. Value chains within the scope of SuperBIO use organic material as a process feedstock or enzymes/cells (algae, fungi, bacteria, plants etc) as processing tools.

Learnings from the Open-Bio project

The PC mouse, a device that has revolutionised the way we use modern computers, is almost invisible on a daily basis. As a vital part of a PC system, our hands unthinkingly reach for it and without it, we feel disoriented. Its intuitive control contributes to its ubiquitous presence alongside modern PCs. It is now so common, that anyone who is not involved in the production chain may well be astonished at what is hidden beneath that neat casing, shaped to suit our hand. It looks like just another one of those electronic devices cluttering up our daily lives. Looks, however, can deceive: the complexity of the production chain and the problems, which have to be solved to fabricate a simple PC mouse are far greater than meet the eye. This is particularly the case when designing a mouse according to fair requirements, as is the aim of non-profit organisation Nager IT (Bichl, Germany), an association focussed on encouraging humane working conditions at electronics manufacturers by developing socially and environmentally sustainable electronics. Now, a junior research team (Forschernachwuchsgruppe, FNG) headed by V.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andrea Siebert-Raths at the Institute for Bioplastics and Biocomposites (IfBB) at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover, Germany, working in close collaboration with Nager IT, has developed a biobased material for the fair computer mouse.

What does Futamura’s acquisition of the Innovia Films’ Cellulose films business mean for the future of the NatureFlex™ films brand?