bioplastics MAGAZINE issue 02/2006

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Highlights: NPE Review | 08 Shopping bags | 10Bottles | 20

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We’re part of your product w w w. t re o f a n . c o m

Natural product – natural packagingIf you’re selling fresh produce, why not choose a straight-from-nature packaging! biophan is a fully biodegradable product

made from starch, which micro-organisms convert into CO2 and H2O during composting. biophan is not only naturally

biodegradable, it also has outstanding packaging qualities. When wrapped in breathable biophan, fresh produce stays fresh

longer and the packaging’s crackling sound enhances the freshness impression. biophan’s high gloss and transparency also

add to the appeal of fresh produce. Back-to-nature packaging with big benefits for your produce!

The first issue of bioplastics MAGAZINE was a big success. We printed 4,000 copies, and mailed about 2,500 to qualified readers in 71 countries around the world. The rest was distributed on different conferences and exhibitions, such as the NPE in Chicago.

Many of you gave us a very positive feedback and also valuable hints how to improve bioplastics MAGAZINE. Please continue to do so and let us know what you would like to read in the coming issues of this publication. Informative editorial contributions are always welcome.

In this issue you’ll find a review of bioplastics activities at the NPE exhibition in Chicago. Further major subjects are shopping bags and bottles. In Germany for example the first PLA bottle for slightly carbonated beverages with a completely compostable cap was introduced on 1 September.

A number of qualified contributions give us quite a good opportunity to “look out of the own box” and learn about the legislative and market situation in different countries like Belgium, Canada, USA or India.

Please visit our website at www.bioplasticsmagazine.com for up to date information on events, career opportunities etc.

We hope you enjoy reading the second issue of bioplastics MAGAZINE and find valuable information for your business.

Michael Thielen

dear readers

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bioplastics [06/02] Vol. 1 �

September 02|2006ReviewBioplastics – a highlight at NPE 2006 in Chicago 08

SpecialShopping bags – a big opportunity for bioplastics 10

ProcessingTwin screw extrusion systems for biobased resins 14

Preforms for PLA bottles 16

ApplicationsFirst PLA bottle in Germany 20

Biophan lid film for fresh food 22

MarketThe first brick in a Domino Toppling 2�

PoliticsDegradable Plastics - A Canadian Perspective 24

Federal Agencies in the USA shall 28buy bioplastics products

Belgian BioPackaging �0

OpinionPro composting / Pro energy recovery �2

BasicsDegradable – Biodegradable – Compostable �4

Logos Part 2: �6 The “Compostable” logo of BPI, USA

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Suppliers Guide �8

Events 42

4 bioplastics [06/02] Vol. 1

News

SPAR Austria enhances “freshness” of produce with NatureWorks PLA

Building on its reputation for innovation and customer convenience, grocery store chain SPAR Austria is packaging organic apples, pears and tomatoes in rigid trays sealed with a flow wrap film, all made from NatureWorks® PLA.

“NatureWorks PLA is helping SPAR capitalize on the increasing consumer demand for both conveniently packaged fresh produce, as well as for the innovation that help them make more environmentally responsible purchases,” says Herbert Wandl, Purchasing Manager for fruit and vegetables at Spar Austria.

While NatureWorks PLA offers performance that is competitive with traditional plastics, it also offers a significant brand advantage. According to Lisa Owen, global business leader for rigid packaging, NatureWorks LLC, “NatureWorks PLA provides retailers with a natural and convenient packaging solution for their customers. At first glance, consumers view NatureWorks PLA packaging as just another plastic container. Once they find out it‘s made from maize, however, consumers find the package and the product inside even more appealing.”

Two packaging manufacturers supply the transparent rigid tray and flowwrap. Italian thermoformer, ILPA, produces the rigid trays and punnets while film manufacturer, Treofan, headquartered in Germany, supplies the flow wrap film, trademarked Biophan, made from NatureWorks PLA.

According to SPAR, the increased freshness of products in PLA packaging may go beyond consumer perception. Wandl reports that the shelf-life of tomatoes, biologic apples and pears packed in PLA is 10 to 15 percent longer than that of conventionally packed fruit.

To educate consumers about the benefits of PLA packaging, SPAR places an informational label on the outside of each package. The label indicates that the origin of the packaging is maize, promotes compostability and captures shoppers‘ attention.

www.spar.at, www.natureworksllc.com

BASF to raise prices for its biodegradable plastic Ecoflex

As of September 1 of this year, BASF is going to implement in Europe a 20 % price increase for Ecoflex, a completely biodegradable plastic.

This measure has become necessary before the backdrop of drastic increases in the raw material and energy costs in recent months.

The biodegradable copolyester Ecoflex belongs to the PlasticsPlus product line of the Styrenics Operating Division. This product is employed primarily in blends. These are combinations of renewable raw materials such as starch, cellulose or polylactic acid with a biodegradable, synthetic polymer like Ecoflex. Examples of applications include shopping bags, organic garbage sacks, mulch film for agriculture and all kinds of packaging for food products.

www.basf.com

Photo: NatureWorks

bioplastics [06/02] Vol. 1 5

Purchase adds biodegradable plastics capabilities

Hycail now with Tate & Lyle

Tate & Lyle’s April 2006 acquisition of the assets and intellectual property of Hycail BV, a Dutch company previously owned by Dairy Farmers of America, strengthens the company in the field of industrial ingredients from renewable resources. Hycail has developed technology to produce polylactic acid (PLA). “An increased desire for biodegradable products, coupled with rising oil prices, is driving demand for new environmentally-friendly plastics,” says Clive Rutherford, Chief Executive, Food & Industrial Ingredients, Europe. “The PLA business is an excellent fit with our Group strategy to develop value-added ingredients from renewable resources.”

The Hycail purchase includes a PLA pilot plant in Noordhorn, the Netherlands; and Hycail Finland Oy, a research branch in Turku, Finland which also provides technical service to Scandinavian customers.

Hycail has developed several grades of PLA polymers and resins, each with a unique functionality. “The ability to produce variations of PLA makes it possible to provide customers with a wide range of biodegradable packaging,” says Dr. Michael Harrison, Global Director, Industrial R&D. “The combination of Hycail PLA technologies has the potential for the development of a completely compostable plastic packaging solution.”

Tate & Lyle, a global company with operations predominantly in Europe, the Americas and Asia, provides ingredients, ingredient solutions and services to food, beverage and industrial customers.

www.tateandlyle.com, www.hycail.com

New Issue of Study will be published

Bioplastics - Processing Parameters and Technical Properties

The Institute for Recycling (IfR) of the University of Applied Sciences Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel, Germany and the international market portal bioplastics24.com announced the publication of a new issue of the study „Bioplastics - Processing Parameters and Technical Properties“ of globally available thermoplastic biopolymers. The study will be presented for the first time at the InnoBioplast conference in Bangkok from September 21–24, 2006. Available in German and English language, the study can be downloaded at bioplastics24.com after September 22, 2006.

Main subject of the report is a comprehensive, comparing compilation of the technical properties and the processing parameters of biodegradable plastics. The report also considers non-degradable plastics, as long as these are made mainly on the basis of renewable resources. More than 40 polymers of almost 30 manufacturers were processed into test specimens at the Institute for Recycling (IfR). All tests were performed in the laboratories of the institute on a multitude of different testing equipment. The technical properties were determined according to the requirements of current DIN standards.

The study addresses mainly producers, converters and users who are planning to start processing bioplastics, as well as all interested parties, that want to gather an overview about these materials, their properties, prices and applications.

www.bioplastics24.com/study

News


News

Huhtamaki awarded SilverHuhtamaki’s PLA dessert cup successful in the annual UK Starpack competition

Huhtamaki is a leading manufacturer of consumer and specialty packaging, with its headquarter in Espoo, Finland. In April 2006, Huhtamaki launched a new dessert cup range made from NatureWorks PLA. Bespoke to a major UK retailer, the cup range includes 7 cups in the sizes from 71mm in diameter with 180ml capacity to 126mm in diameter and 1000ml capacity, and 4 lid sizes. The biodegradable dessert cups are thermoformed, unprinted and sealed. Some also have a snap on lid, also of PLA.

Starpack is co-ordinated by IOP: The Packaging Society (a Division of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining) and IOM Communications Ltd. The Starpack Awards scheme has been running since 1960 and is the premiere UK annual award scheme recognizing innovation in packaging design and technology. In 2006, Starpack broke all records with 850 entries received across all 4 main categories. Judging of the entries took place in April and the awards were presented on July 5.

Award wining cups and plates

“Huhtamaki’s new dessert cup was judged to be awarded silver for best component and best use of innovative material”, says Jez Allman, Huhtamaki’s General Manager for Consumer Goods Sales in Gosport, UK. “Our new dessert cup range is a forerunner in future packaging as the consumers are getting more environmental conscious. That we were awarded silver shows that biodegradable packaging is being taken seriously in the industry.”

Huhtamaki’s BioWare PLA dessert cups are perfectly clear and sturdy, well suited for serving chilled desserts and other food products.

BioWare cutlery in sturdy, future friendly material

Cutlery made from Mater-Bi is a new addition to the abovementioned cups and plates. Ideal for quick service restaurants, catering, outdoor and mass events, the new Mater-Bi cutlery is produced in the popular Super Party shape. The knife and fork are sturdy yet lightweight. Crack resistance and flexibility are substantial features of the cutleries - making them extra good and safe to use, as the company states. The new BioWare cutleries are made from Mater-Bi, a compostable biopolymer based on renewable raw materials such as corn starch. Two vegetable extracts and one polymer have been added to the modified molecular structure obtaining a bio-plastic raw material that is extremely adaptable and versatile. This functional cutlery is suitable for hot food and can be colored with natural pigments, heat laminated to paper, cardboard, cotton and other natural fibers, and can even be sterilized with the help of gamma rays. The interest for environmentally sound tableware is increasing: Huhtamaki is committed to develop the BioWare range further.

As Huhtamaki point out, the BioWare range offers retailers and brand owners, as well as foodservice operators a natural way to invest in their environmental image and support the consumers wanting to make a conscious choice.

www.huhtamaki.com, www.iom3.org/starpack/


� bioplastics [06/02 Vol. 1

Review

NPE, The International Plastics Showcase

Bioplastics – a highlight at NPE 2006 in Chicago

The triennial “National Plastics Exhibition” NPE 2006 in Chicago, held from June 19 to 23 this year for the 25th time has long become “The International Pastics Showcase” as the organizers call it. NPE 2006 attracted a total of 64,451 registrations and set new records for international participation. The total of international visitor registrations was 33% larger than in 2003 and accounted for 24% of all visitor registrations for NPE 2006. A total of 1,�50 companies exhibited at NPE 2006, taking ��,210 m² of net exhibit space.

www.npe.org

Due to the international development in the recent months and years it was no surprise, that bioplastics played an important role at this exhibition.

International Degradable Plastics Symposium

Preceding NPE an International Degradable Plastics Symposium was sponored by the BioEnvironmental Polymer Society (BEPS) and the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) at McCormick Place, the same location as NPE. In more than 60 presentations, some of which rather academic but many quite useful for this industry, experts from the USA and from all over the world shared their knowledge with about 200 attendees.

At NPE a number of companies showed their products and developments in the field of bioplastics. Some of these are summarised in this article.

Econeer from Korea for example presented Kondorax, a product made of wheat flour with a fibre component prepared from rice, wheat straw or paper mill sludge. Ecopol, a kind of aliphatic and aromatic polyester can be used as liquid coating for wheat flour-based products or paper. Other applications of Ecopol are films, hot melt adhesives or even textiles such as tablecloth. Ecopol can be injection moulded to products like cutlery or toothbrushes or blowmoulded into bottles. Both Kondorax and Ecopol are 100% made from renewable resources and fully biodegradable.

www.econeer.com

On the machine manufacturer side Leistritz presented high speed, energy input (HSEI) twin screw extruders for bioplastics (see separate article on page 14).

www.leistritz.com/alec

DuPont announced that they are moving forward with plans to produce new high-performance thermoplastic resins and elastomer products made with renewable resources. The products will be targeted for automotive, electrical/electronic and other industrial markets. Intermediates for the DuPont engineering thermoplastics Sorona® and thermoplastic polyester elastomers Hytrel® made with renewable resources will be made from corn sugar instead of petroleum, using a patented and proprietary process. The key ingredient in Sorona is Bio-PDO™, which replaces petrochemical-based 1,3-propanediol (PDO). The new Hytrel, produced using a new DuPont polyol made with Bio-PDO Sorona polymer for industrial applications, will be commercially available in mid-2007; and the renewably sourced Hytrel grades will be available in late 2007.

www.dupont.com


ReviewThe NCAUR (National Center for Agricultural Utilization) a

major research center of USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) informed about electroactive biopolymers. These are a new class of materials representing conductivity in plastics at levels comparable to conventional metals; these materials are produced using only natural polymers.

www.ncaur.usda.gov

Hertiage Bag Company’s new 100% biodegradable (ASTM1 D-6400 certified) BioTufTM compost bags were showcased at BASF’s exhibition stand. BioTuf compost bags are being utilized in organic diversion programs throughout the US and Canada. As compared to other biodegradable compost bags Heritage’s BioTuf has a much greater load capacity and is more economical in price. Heritage Plastics, a division of Heritage Bag Company also exhibited at the NPE reporting rapid sales growth of BioTuf compound to many private extruders in US and Canada. Heritage’s BioTuf compound was designed to process on conventional PE extruders with extremely high line/production efficiency.

www.heritage-bag.com

1 American Society for Testing and Materials

At the exhibiton stand of Ecopur, Mexico ecological polyurethane was the subject. While castor oil is well recognized as the one and only 100% natural polyol as a raw material for polyurethane, Ecopur go one step further: They offer polyester rigid polyols based on soy bean oil and PET-resin with a variety in the characteristics fitted to different applications.

www.ecopur.com.mx

Rejuven�™ is one of the products presented by Spartech Corporation of Clayton, Missouri, USA. Made from 99% NatureWorks PLA, Rejuven� is a custom sheet and rollstock product specifically developed for thermoforming applications. It has excellent clarity and die cutting characteristics and is relatively easy to thermoform and RF (radio frequency) seal. Its unique properties, however, also allow it to function well for many printed applications, as the company states. Rejuven� is very well suited for food packaging, drinking cup, and tableware applications.

The other product, Rejuven�Plus™ made from 95% NatureWorks PLA, was specifically developed for graphic art and printed applications although it also works well in most thermoforming processes. The unique alloy material has performance enhanced physical properties over standard PLA with impact properties similar to PET. Through secondary processing, Rejuven�Plus can be made to have raised „heat resistance“ properties to well over 65°C versus the 40°C - 50°C maximum temperature resistance possessed by standard PLA material. Typical applications for Rejuven�Plus are consumer packaging, gift and phone cards, and plant tags.

www.spartech.com

Hallink, based in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, provides complete turnkey solutions for PET and PLA bottle makers and bottlers throughout the western hemisphere and around the world. From specification, installation and training, to fully-tested production and after-market service, Hallink is a single source for state-of-the-art, moulds, change parts, SBM and injection moulding machines for PET and PLA.

www.hallink.com

Metabolix, Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, USA uses sophisticated biotechnology to produce plas-tics materials from renewable resources. Metabolix is a world leader in applying the advanced tools of metabolic engineering and molecular biology to efficiently pro-duce PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates) Natural Plastics in microbial systems. The company has a strategic alliance with Archer, Daniels, Midland to produce these innovative materials via fermentation. Metabolix’s second platform technology, direct production in non-food crop plants such as switchgrass, is under development.

www.metabolix.com

PSM North America presented Plastarch Material (abbreviated PSM), a biodegradable resin made from corn starch. PSM consists of more than �0% corn starch, and it can completely return to nature after being used. PSM raw material and finished goods are ideal for a wide variety of applications including food packaging, industrial packaging, medical products and disposable items.

www.psmna.com

Special

Shopping bags made of plastics is certainly a field of application with a huge potential for bioplastics. Reusablebags.com estimates 500 billion to one trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide every year. In the USA alone,

an estimated 12 million barrels of oil are required to produce the 100 billion bags consumed annually. In Germany about 80,000 tonnes of plastic resin are convert-ed into shopping bags each year. Up to now, just a small amount of these bags are made of plastics based on renewable resources and compostable plastics.

Different reasons, such as littering in some countries, the attempt to support the agricultural industry or simply to support sustainability in others, lead to dif-ferent approaches in legislation.

Legislative attempts

In some of these countries taxes on shopping bags have been introduced. In March 2002, the Republic of Ireland, for example, became the first country to introduce a plastic bag tax, or PlasTax. Since 2003 a law in Taiwan requires res-taurants, supermarkets and convenience stores to charge customers for plastic bags and utensils.

Other countries that have banned or have started a discussion to take mea-sures discouraging the use of plastic bags include Australia, Bangladesh, Can-ada, Scotland, Italy, South Africa, Kenya, Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India and Tanzania.

In France, large supermarket chains like Auchan or Leclerc started to stop giv-ing out plastic bags for free – a first step to reduce the number of plastic bags. 15 billion plastic bags were used in France in 2003, declining to 12 billion in 2004 and 9 billion in 2005.

Late last year, the lower house of the French Parliament passed an amend-ment to an agricultural provisions bill, which initially intended to ban all plastics packaging by 2010 unless made from biodegradable materials. The amendment was later modified in the French senate, so that now by 2010 all supermarket plastic checkout-bags have to be made of biodegradable material.

This legislative measure “has already created a noticeable impetus for mar-ket development”, says Stefano Facco, as representative of Club Bioplastique in France. He stated that the French agricultural and local industry will increasingly profit from this legislation. He gave encouragement to follow this example and develop further initiatives to support the market introduction of bioplastics at both European Union and member state level.

With all these activities in mind, one should not forget the initial idea behind the plastic shopping bag. A consumer shall be able to go out for shopping without any provisions made to carry his or her purchases home. Otherwise, the old shopping basket or tote would be the most economical solution.

Shopping bags – a big opportunity

Photos: BASF


Special

Bioplastics on the advance

Shopping bags made of bioplastics are clearly on the advance.

BioBag International as. (formerly Polargruppen), headquartered in Askim, Norway, for example produces and sells several million shopping bags made of Mater-Bi material per year worldwide. In addition to two manufacturing facilities in Norway and Belgium (in close cooperation with Jemaco NV) BioBag is present in 18 countries. Jorn Johansen of BioBag is convinced that biodegradable bags (shopping bags as well as waste bags and other film products for agricultural and technical applications) is becoming an important part of their business.

The German company Holm Folienverarbeitung, is one of the suppliers with the biggest number of bioplastic shopping bags produced in Germany, as H.M. Holm, owner of the company says. This pioneer in this business has already been pro-ducing biodegradable plastic bags for 15 years, including some export activities to The Netherlands, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

Most of Holm’s bags are not the lightweight single use checkout bags as they are found in many countries. In Germany, the heavier reusable bags are much more common. “Even if these bags made of bioplastics are more expensive than fossil based plastic bags, many of our customers like the benefit of these bags being used as a conveyor for marketing messages” as H.M. Holm comments. A very suc-cessful bag is the so-called “Happy Bag” in close cooperation with natura packag-ing, that shows a photograph of fresh strawberries on one side and an empty field on the other, where e.g. small shops such as farm greengrocery stores can print their own logo. One big customer of biodegradable bags is the outdoor equip-ment supplier “Globetrotter”. Customers of its six stores in Germany carry home their purchases in biodegradable bags made by Holm. Ditmar Bosecke, Head of Marketing at Globetrotter says: ”Our customers very much like to be outside, they love nature and act responsible to the environment. So the availability of bioplas-tic bags offered us a good opportunity to do something in this respect as well.” Globetrotter asked their customers in an internet poll about their opinion and as the result was overwhelming, Globetrotter decided to introduce shopping bags of biobased and biodegradable plastics right away. Globetrotter does not charge any money for these bags.

An Indian example

When Perses Bilimoria, founder and CEO of Earthsoul India, launched shopping bags made of Mater-Bi in India in 2001, hardly anybody wanted to believe that this could be a success in a developing country like India.

Today Earthsoul sells in excess of 300,000 shopping bags annually in India, certi-fied according to EN 13432. Even if this number is small in comparison with the total number of plastic shopping bags being used in the country, “Earthsoul is cre-ating an awareness and a special experience around the values of conservation, sustainability and dignity for the elements of nature for the customers who use an Earthsoul bag,” says Perses Bilimoria.

Shopping bags – a big opportunity for bioplastics

Photo: natura packaging

Photo: BioBag International


Special

www.biobag.no www.holmfolienverarbeitung.de www.naturapackaging.com www.globetrotter.de www.chameleonpackaging.com www.earthsoulindia.com

Photo: Chameleon

Most of the customers are organic food markets, high-end pastry and delica-tessen shops, liquor stores, deluxe hotels and spas. Perses Bilimoria believes that although this certainly is still just a niche market, these are customers who are decision makers in the corporate world and the message is clearly understood in terms of good green governance and sustainable environmental practices.

With a growing population of almost 1.4 billion (more than China), by 2025 India will have a mature market for bioplastics based on renewable natural raw materials such as corn starch, which can be easily sourced from within the country.

In addition, Perses Bilimoria has been instrumental in convincing the Bu-reau of Indian Standards (BIS) to implement and follow the guidelines of EN 13432 and ASTM D 6400-99 for bioplastics in India, together with adequate compost labelling protocols. India shall shortly adopt the equivalent to the new ISO 17088 or EN 13432.

Perses Bilimoria is somewhat concerned however about the fact that India – like Europe – is facing the problems of oxo-degradable and additive based synthetic polymers, saying that they are “flooding the market in disguise as “biodegradable bags”. India is a very price sensitive market and most people are not educated on the aspects of biodegradability and compostability, thus it becomes very difficult to convince buyers about the difference between an EN 13432 certified product and those that are only degradable,” Perses says.

Shopping totes – the fashionable style

Shopping bags made from renewable resources can also be completely dif-ferent. Chameleon Packaging, a Division of Design & Source Productions, Inc., New York, for example, offers tote bags made of the PLA fibre material Ingeo™. Chameleon Packaging began developing samples with NatureWorks Ingeo fab-rics in 2004, but realised that most fabrics were developed only for the garment industry, making them typically too soft for application in bags. The backbone of Ingeo has been so supportive, that NatureWorks has offered opportunities to discuss development for new fabrics that would be more suitable for bags. The few projects specified with Ingeo typically obtain much, but the average customer has not wanted in the end to pay the difference in material costs. “But as the costs come down and such bags become more competitive and give the opportunity to use better materials, there will be more and more inquiries, and that will turn into more projects,” says Nicole Smith, environmental direc-tor of Chameleon Packaging. The customers need time to recognise that the material will still be around, be consistent, have enough production output to meet their needs, and be reliable in a few years time, as well as good for the environment. Chameleon Packaging’s commitment to sustainable materials is steadfast, and it is convinced that Ingeo has a large potential for its current and future customers. “Overall,” says Nicole, “I believe the non-woven material has the greatest potential. Non-woven bags have become really popular in all of the sustainably focused shops and stores”.

Conclusion

These are just a few examples of the successful introduction of bioplastic shopping bags.

Shopping bags made of bioplastics can definitely not solve all the problems connected with plastic bags. Littering, for example, is more a question of edu-cation than of the material. The effect of bioplastic bags on the killing of marine life in the oceans, if there is any, is not yet been sufficiently researched. But their advantages surely offer a market potential in the months and years to come.

“We go for environment protection. That’s why the frog goes for us” Photo: natura packaging


Processing

Twin Screw

Extrusion Systems for

Biobased Resins

Article contributed by Charlie

Martin, American Leistritz Extruder

Corporation, Somerville, NJ, USA

H i g h speed, energy

input (HSEI) twin screw ex-truders are emerging as the manufactur-

ing methodology of choice to process bio-based renew-able materials. Applications include compounding, reactive extrusion, devolatilization and foaming. The final product can be a pellet to facilitate accurate and consistent feeding of sec-ondary processes. There is also a trend to bypass the pelleti-zation step and to produce a film, fiber, sheet or profile from the twin screw extruder. This is referred to as direct extrusion. Although similar to traditional plastic processes, there are subtle differences that take into account the heat- and shear sensitivity of bio-based polymer compounds.

HSEI twin screw extruders are starve fed with the output rate determined by the feeder(s). Feeders meter solids (pellets/fillers, etc.) or liquids (including supercritical CO2) into the HSEI twin screw extruder. The extruder screw RPM is independent and is used to optimize compounding efficiencies. Because the pressure gradient is controlled and can be designed to be zero at specific locations in the process section, materials are easily introduced into downstream barrel sections by a side stuffer that “pushes” fillers (calcium, talc, etc.) into the extruder. Downstream side stuffing is especially beneficial for shear sensitive fillers, such as woodfiber or starch. The controlled pressure profile also facilitates venting to remove moisture and other volatiles that are inherent with many bio-based formulations. By utilizing multiple vents, it is possible

to remove 20% (or more) volatiles.

HSEI twin screw extruders process materi-als bounded by screw flights and bar-

rel walls. Screws are segmented and assembled on splined

shafts. Barrels are also modular,

and uti-

Leistritz Bio-Screws


lize liquid cooling. A typical process length to diameter ratio (L/D) is 32 to 48, with up to 60 L/D (or more) being possible to facilitate reac-tive processing and/or multi-stage devolatiliza-tion. The motor inputs energy into the process via rotating screws that impart shear into the materials.

Segmented screws/barrels, in combination with the controlled pumping and wiping characteristics of the HSEI twin screw extruder, allows screw/barrel geometries to be matched to the process tasks. Solids conveying and plastication occurs in the first 1/3 of the process section. Screw elements for mixing and devolatilization are then integrated into the design. Discharge elements finally build and stabilize pressure to a die. Screw designs can be shear intensive or passive based upon the materials being processed. For instance, the early portion of the screw design can be shear intensive, if required for alloying, and the latter part less aggressive to accommodate the shear sensitive nature of many bio-based fillers or additives.

Strand or die face cut pelletizing systems can be mated to the HSEI twin screw extruder to make pellets. Cooling may be in air or water, depending upon the composition of the formulation. Pelletization facilitates the consistent feeding, transport and packaging of the pellets to a single screw extruder or injection molding machine.

As previously stated, HSEI twin screw extruders are also used to combine compounding/devolatilizing with direct extrusion of sheet, film, fiber, laminates, profile and other extruded products. Typically, a gear pump or screw pump is attached to build and stabilize pressure to the die. The system utilizes a PLC to implement a pressure control algorithm program to maintain a constant die inlet pressure.

Close to 100% of bio-based polymer compounds have been processed, at some stage, on a HSEI twin screw extruder. It is important to also recognize that the HSEI twin screw extruder is just another tool, albeit a powerful and versatile one, in the process. Integration of the upstream and downstream systems, in combination with the formulation, are all equally important to optimize the process.

www.leistritz-extrusion.com

Processing


Processing

Making preforms for PLA bottles …

Although the name might suggest otherwise, the PETline injection moulding systems offered by the Swiss manufacturer Netstal for the production of

preforms for plastic bottles can also be used for process-ing materials other than polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This not only applies to other „fossil“ plastics such as polypropylene, but also to plastics made from renewable resources such as PLA.

PLA is an industrially compostable material that is well suited for the production of injection-moulded preforms to be used for stretch blow moulding of bottles. The first such bottles have already been launched in the US and European markets. PLA is characterized by very good transparency, high gloss and a good flavour barrier and has oxygen barrier properties similar to those of polypro-pylene.

Injection moulding of preforms and strech blow moulding of bottles (principle); courtesy SIG Corpoplast

Nevertheless, the use of PLA for beverage bottles is cur-rently still somewhat limited. The available material has so far had insufficient creep behaviour, which has limited its application to non-carbonated beverages. Since the stretching behaviour of PLA during the production of the bottle is different to that of PET, different blowing process

Injection moulding of PLA preforms

parameters are required. The stretching ra-tios, on the other hand, are very similar, so that, roughly speaking, the same shapes as with PET pre-forms can also be achieved with PLA. This means that preform injection moulds designed for PET processing can also be used for pro-cessing PLA, even if certain compromises may have to be made.

While PLA was rela-tively expensive when it was initially launched in the market, the price differential between PLA and PET has meanwhile dimin-ished. And since the price of PLA has remained relatively stable, the negative upward development of PET prices is making PLA increasingly attractive. If the prices continue to follow these trends, the demand for PLA is certain to rise and this might even lead to bottlenecks in material supply.

Basically, standard equipment can be used to produce preforms from PLA. Some specific characteristics of this material, however, require significant changes in process-ing conditions.

PLA processing properties

PLA has a melt temperature of approximately 145-155°C. Its glass transition temperature is about 55-58°C and its crystallisation temperature about 95-120°C. In its molten state, PLA sticks strongly to textiles, wood and metals.


Processing

Since PLA is also a hydrophilic material, it must be dried prior to injection moulding. In this respect, the significantly lower processing tempera-tures compared to PET must be taken into account already during the drying pro-cess.

The drying process

An existing dryer for drying PET can well be used to dry PLA. It is important, however, that PET or other plastics do not contaminate the drying system.

The drying temperatures are in the range of approximately 90-100°C, and drying takes no longer than that of PET. Residual moisture con-tent of up to 100ppm is fully sufficient (compared with 50 ppm for PET).

The plastifying process

Not only the temperature of the drying equipment but also the temperature profile of the plastifying unit has to be significantly lower than for PET: the feed zone is heated to about 180°C, while the compression and the metering zones are heated to approximately 210 - 220°C.

„In our case were able to use our standard PET screw that has an ideal shape for avoidance of acetaldehyde for-mation when processing PET, that it also brought to bear here with its advantages in low shear combined with op-timum homogenisation“, says Stefan Bock, Manager Ap-plication Technology PET Systems at Netstal. A specific Netstal program called „Intrusion“ additionally supports

the design of the screw shape. This means that the screw, due to its storage of melt, can plastify continuously under almost the same conditions, so that the rotation speed of the screw remains almost constant over the entire cycle. This way, the melt is produced in a gentle manner and is very homogenous due to the conditions remaining con-stant. This condition is of great importance, especially from the aspect of the addition of liquid additives. These additives are distributed very homogeneously in the melt - an advantage from which especially PLA benefits, as PLA can hardly be processed into hollow items without using additives, Stefan Bock observes.

The mould

As a rule, an existing PET mould can also be used to process PLA. The material‘s stretching ratios are similar to those of PET; merely its density of 1.25g/cm³ is lower. A hot runner with needle shut-off is also suitable for PLA. The mould maker should satisfy himself, however, that operation of the hot runner at the lower temperature of only about 220°C does not result in leakages as a conse-quence of the lower thermal expansion of the hot runner manifold bars.

At cold mould surfaces (temperatures below 25°C), the PLA melt has a marked tendency to separation of lactide. It is therefore essential that the mould is equipped with a cooling system that does not reduce the temperature below this threshold. While this temperature range will inevitably lengthen cycle times, the effect can be partly offset through intensive post-cooling.

The post-cooling

As a consequence of the relatively high mould tempera-ture of 25°C, the preforms are very susceptible to scratch-ing and tend to stick together immediately after demould-ing, a characteristic that is not conducive to the desired short cycle times.

„Here, the unique post-cooling system of the Netstal systems ensures extremely good cooling of the preform surface“, explains Stefan Bock further. The preforms are first post-cooled for one cycle by an actively cooled remov-

PLA bottles made with preforms from a NETSTAL machine


al robot with adapted cooling sleeves. The preforms are then left to cool for another four cycles in the downstream cooling block, which is also equipped with adapted cooling sleeves. The removal gripper and the cooling block can be cooled down to a temperature significantly lower than that of the mould. The cooling sleeves employed can be adapted to the shrinkage desired for the respective pro-cess. This means that the cooling sleeves of the removal gripper do not need to be identical to those of the cooling block. The removal gripper not only provides for intensive cooling of the preform, but it also calibrates the preform to avoid any deformation. According to Stefan Bock, the result is a sufficiently cooled, relatively hard and thus rather insensitive surface of the preform.

Improving part appearance and performance

Due to the nature of bioplastics, such as PLA, preforms and containers may appear yellowish. By adding of so-called „Anti-Yellow toner“ additives the yellow appearance can be significantly reduced. When coloured containers are desired, creating quality aesthetics in bioplastics parts does not present a problem. PLA can be easily coloured with liquid pigments. Suppliers offer special additives, that bond perfectly with bioplastics. For example Colormatrix Bio range colours are developed with dispersion systems tailored to a bioplastic‘s unique characteristics. The co-lours will incorporate quickly in the bio-polymer, resulting in good dispersion and inherently consistent colour.

Improving PLA processing

To counter the low IR absorption rate of PLA and thus increase the absorption of heat in a blow moulding ma-chine special carbon black additives were developed. A specific reheat additive of Colormatrix, developed for the Bio range of solutions offers a good balance of coulor val-ues and reheat properties. Reheat values can be tailored to meet customer‘s specific reheat requirements with less impact on yellow or lightness characteristics.

The strong tendency of PLA to stick to other surfaces can be positively influenced e.g. with Colormatrix‘ Bio range „eze“, a process aid to assist in modification of the polymer surface energy. This additive is designed to work at PLA‘s lower processing temperatures, improving fric-tion and reducing processing costs. Such additives im-prove release for injection, blow mould and box filling, as well as transport packing of preforms and bottles. Further advantages of using such additives are reduced scratches and blemishes on the container surface.

Global sustainable solutions

Colormatrix Bio range solutions only utilize carrier sys-tems from natural and renewable resources to work in harmony with PLA resulting in environmentally sustain-able plastic products.

To study the effect of such additives, Colormatrix pro-vided Netstal with all types of additives required. These additives were successfully tested and processed in the trial runs that were carried out jointly with Colormatrix - and the resulting bottles were quite impressive.

www.netstal.com; www.colormatrix.com

Preforms manufactured on a PETline 3500 with intensive post cooling

Processing


Three new wellness beverages were introduced under the brand name “Vitamore” on 1 September by the German drugstore chain “Ihr Platz” (which means “your place” in English) in its more than

700 stores. And this launch represents three premieres at a time, as all new products, Vitamore Beauty Drink, Vitamore Energy Drink and Vita-more Memory Drink are presented in 0.5 litre bottles made of Nature-Works PLA. These are the first PLA bottles in the German market. And if that is not enough, the caps of these bottles are also made of bioplastic. With a label made of paper and a starch-based glue, the entire bottle is fully compostable.

One year ago, Ihr Platz introduced organic food and body care products into its portfolio, including dairy and convenience products - not usual for drugstore chains such as Ihr Platz. “So it was another consequent step in the same direction to introduce PLA as material for our new wellness beverages”, says project manager Bernd Merzenich, a consultant with 25 years of experience in bioproducts, who supports Ihr Platz in this field. “People, who consider health, wellness, beauty and “bio…” as important for them, also wish to take care for a healthy environment” he adds. “We sense a huge amount of appreciation for the commitment of Ihr Platz, because we know about all the hidden obstacles in this business”, adds Joeran Reske from Interseroh, who supported Ihr Platz with contacts and information during the development of the bottle.

Cost versus advantages

Even if PLA is still more expensive than PET, “for the order of magni-tude that we need for the introduction phase, it is significant”, as Bernd Merzenich comments, Ihr Platz decided however not to put the additional cost on top of the sales price. The lower margin that the drugstore ac-cepts brings benefits in the marketing aspect when introducing and pro-moting the new product. “We assume that the customers appreciate the advantages of PLA, to have a material that can be 100% composted or incinerated with greenhouse gas neutrality”, says Bernd, “and, in addi-tion, in our calculation we are undertaking steps to achieve exemption from the mandatory deposit in Germany for environmentally preferable beverage packaging”.

As this is the first bottle of its kind in Germany, education of the cus-tomers is an important subject. Ihr Platz puts most emphasis on a spe-cially created website (www.vitamore.info), as the target group of custom-ers is considered as having strong affinity with Internet. In addition, large posters at the point-of-sale, followed by special leaflets, will support the provision of necessary information to the public.

First PLA bottle in Germany

Applications

Drugstore chain “Ihr Platz” introduces new wellness drinks in PLA bottles


The compostable cap - another “world first”

The cap is also a worldwide premiere: The cap of the Vitamore bottles, supplied by the Swiss company Wiedmer AG, is made of biodegradable and compostable Mater-Bi from Novamont, Italy. In combination with the rigid PLA bottle, the geom-etry of the cap and the elastic Mater-Bi material allow a perfectly leakproof bottle. The sealing function is inherently integrated into the geometry of the cap, without any need for additional inserted sealing from a third material, so that it can with-stand even the higher internal pressures of normal carbonated beverages (CSD: carbonated soft drinks).

What does a brand owner expect from the industry?

First of all, Ihr Platz expects larger production capacities for PLA to improve availability to a larger number of users in the packaging and beverage industries. “And of course, more different suppliers means competition and that is good for business”, Bernd Merzenich adds, with a smile. But there is more that should be improved than just availability and price. Especially for bottles, Bernd Merzenich seeks further improvements of both blowability and stretchability. This is particu-larly relevant for a further reduction of the preform and bottle weight, in order to further increase the environmental advantages of PLA bottles. The shelf life of the slightly carbonised Vitamore drinks (<1gr CO2 /litre) is six months without any special measures needed to improve the barrier properties. The moderate CO2 loss over these six month does not influence either the taste or the “feel in the mouth” at all, as Bernd Merzenich explains. However, the barrier properties of PLA bottles would need to be improved, for stronger carbonated drinks, as well as for products sensitive to oxygen. First attempts of the industry e.g. with plasma-coating systems applied to PLA look promising. And finally, the relatively rough surface character-istics of PLA still lead to some problems, for example, when feeding preforms into the stretch blowmoulding machine or by creating friction between the bottle and the cap. Here it would be desirable to lower the coefficient of friction.

Conclusion

With “health” being one of the core competences of a drugstore, Ihr Platz now offers with its PLA bottles a perfect fit concerning the packaging of their wellness drinks to a cli-entele that not only wants to do something good for their own bodies. “Responsible behav-iour towards the environment is something that our custom-ers consider as very important, says managing director Mi-chael Wilmes “and drinking Vi-tamore from a 100% bio-based bottle simply makes them feel better - in a dual sense.

www.vitamore.info

Applications


Applications

The Treofan Group, one of the world’s leading producers and distributors of polypropylene films, has announced a new application for Biophan, their biologically degradable film. This new gen-eration of films made from polylactic acid (PLA) and displaying an excellent combination of product characteristics is ideally suited for use as a lid film. Treofan is the only producer of environmentally friendly lid films offering the so-called peel func-tion, which enables the lid film to be easily removed from the container, which is also made from PLA. This function is made possible by an additive in one of the outer layers of the three-layer Biophan film, which allows for low-temperature sealing without the need for an additional peelable lacquer. As a lid film, Biophan can be used for packaging sand-wiches, filled baguettes and rolls as well as for fresh food such as fruit and vegetables, cheese or sausages.

Good application opportunities for Biophan as lid film

Frank Ernst, the Biophan Product Manager, is convinced that this lid film will meet with great enthusiasm among food producers and end us-ers alike. “The market for fresh food packaging is enormous – in Britain alone, 1.2 billion sandwich packs are manufactured every year. In addition, this lid film can be used for fresh fruit, vegetables and salad. I believe Biophan’s good product fea-tures and sustainability will lead to it being widely used as a lid film.”

Initial trials with converters and packers have confirmed the outstanding characteristics of this new development. The film’s sealing power is suf-ficiently high to withstand bursting and the peel power is low enough to allow for easy opening, as Treofan reports. Furthermore, the lid film leaves traces on the container when opened so that any prior opening of the packaging can be immedi-ately detected – a feature that improves product safety. One example of application are sandwiches packed in transparent triangular boxes and closed with Biophan lid film. Another possible application would involve equipping foldable cardboard sand-wich packs with Biophan windows or laminating the inside surface of the cardboard with the new film. Biophan’s impermeability to fat and oil means that products can be packed with no risk of the cardboard becoming soaked.

www.treofan.com

Biophan lid film for fresh food

New food application for Treofan Group’s innovative film


Eosta B.V. from Waddinxveen, The Netherlands, is a company that trades in organically grown vegetables and fruit. During 2005 Eosta de-

cided to package all their products in bioplastics. In close cooperation with the German company natura packaging Eosta started to replace OPP films by PLA films and paper-trays by sugarcane-based trays. “We thought that it fits very well to our organic products, that we also use a biobased and compostable pack-aging,” says Arjan Klapwijk, Packaging Manager at Eosta. In the Netherlands, Eosta is packing today more than 95% of their products in biobased and compostable packaging. “But we are strongly working on achieving 100%,” says Arjan. “Especially in other countries, where we are also active, this is a little more difficult than in The Netherlands,” he adds. It would for example be ecologically disadvantageous to ship bioplastics packaging material from Holland to pack grapes in South Africa. In some other countries like Denmark, Germany or the UK, however, there are customers, that clearly state that they only want veg-etables and fruit packed in compostable packaging.

The very quick conversion from fossil based to bio-based plastics packaging could only work with the support of their supplier natura packaging, as Arjan Klapwijk points out. Natura had the necessary con-tacts to raw material suppliers and converters and knew about the regulations that needed to be fulfilled, like EN 13432.

By going this huge step towards bioplastics pack-aging in 2005, Eosta not only played an important role in introducing Bioplastics to consumers in the Netherlands. Also a large number of European su-permarket chains, such as Sainsbury (UK), Rewe, Edeka, Plus, Metro (all Germany), Carrefour, Auchan, Champion (all France) offer Eosta products packed in bioplastics. Other countries are Sweden, Finland, Norway, Austria and small quantities go to the United States. “It is the first step of a breakthrough in Europe for these biobased, compostable materials – the first domino brick that had to topple,” comments Patrick Gerritsen, Business Unit Manager at natura packag-ing. “However, the compostibility is not the most im-portant issue to us,” says Arjan Klapwijk, “For us, it is important to have materials that are based on re-newable resources rather than from fossil oil. Even a greenhouse neutral incineration is considered as a good recovery option”. This is especially important for countries where appropriate composting systems are not yet installed.

Eosta is proud to have made this strategic deci-sion, even before any preferred treatment (e.g. the “green dot” exemption in Germany, see issue 01/06 of bioplastics MAGAZINE for details) or other subventions systems were in place.

The first brick in a Domino TopplingEosta and natura packaging – pioneers for a European breakthrough

Market

The story behind the product:

Nature & More is an independent foundation, initiated by Eosta, that evaluates quality aspects of organic food in order to make the inherent values of sustainable agriculture and corporate social responsibility visible to the consumer.

The way Eosta look to their growers from the „Nature and More“ point of view has also contributed to the way they look to their packaging materials.

If you like to try it, go to www.natureandmore.com and enter for example 378, and see what happens ... www.eosta.com

www.naturapackaging.com


Politics

The ongoing efforts to divert material from landfill have led many Canadian municipalities to look at composting or anaerobic diges-tion as a viable waste management option. This includes leaf and

yard waste and more and more household kitchen waste. Approximately 14% of Canadian households (over two million households) currently have curbside collection of source-separated organics (i.e. food waste). And that number continues to grow daily.

Along with the increased interest in composting comes an increased interest in compostable plastic bags for such applications as bin liners and kitchen catchers.

Adhering to standards

Canada went through a mini “biodegradable” era in the 1980s and 1990s, where products introduced at that time claimed to be degradable but proved not to be. As a result, there are many organizations, including the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA), that place great em-phasis on the ISO 14020 series of standards under “Environmental Labels and Declarations”. Canada developed a national standard entitled CAN/CSA-ISO 14021-00, which is based on ISO 14021 (Self Declared Environ-mental Claims). The standard is referenced in regulations administered by the Bureau of Competition and Advertising of Industry Canada (a Fed-eral Ministry) and specifies that:

“Methods of evaluation and claim verification shall follow, in order of preference, international standards, recognized standards that have in-ternational acceptability (these may include regional or national stan-dards) or industry or trade methods which have been subjected to peer review.”

The standard also suggests that any “claims of degradability shall only be made in relation to a specific test method that includes maximum level of degradation and test duration, and shall be relevant to the circum-stances in which the product or packaging is likely to be disposed”.

Other elements of the standard state that a degradable claim should not be made for a product, packaging or component of a product that releases substances in concentrations harmful to the environment. And, information to verify the environmental claim should be disclosed, upon request, at a reasonable cost, to any person seeking to verify the claim.

The possibility of having degradable products leave trace elements and other foreign matter in compost has led Canada to adopt criteria for the quality of the compost. These criteria are described in documents and standards endorsed by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environ-

Degradable PlasticsA Canadian Perspective

Article contributed by Dr. Fred Edgecombe,

Technical Advisor to the Environment and Plastics

Industry Council (EPIC), a council of the Canadian Plastics Industry

Association (CPIA).

Photo: City of Toronto


ment, along with Agriculture and AgriFood Canada (another Federal ministry). Compost falling under Category A can be used in any application, whereas compost under Category B is restricted in use because of the higher trace element con-tent. Some of these elements are used in the formulation of pro-oxidants in certain types of degradable plastics.

Meeting the requirements

In Canada, one of the easiest ways for suppliers of degrad-able products to validate the environmental claims of their products is through certification by a recognized third-party. This third party will study the technical information submit-ted regarding the characteristics of the product and then rule on whether or not the product meets the requirements for the stated application. The most commonly used stan-dards for compostable plastics are ASTM 6400, ISO 14855-1 and NF 13432. If the product is deemed satisfactory, then it becomes licensed to bear a symbol attesting to that fact. In the U.S., the most common symbol for a compostable plas-tic is the one issued by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), (see page 36 in this issue of bioplastics MAGAZINE).

The Canadian alternative

Canada has a long history and highly developed structure for writing national standards and certification. It is admin-istered by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), which ac-credits bodies involved with standards writing, certification and testing.

Due to the increased concern regarding the use of plas-tic bags in municipal composting facilities, the certification agency known as the Bureau de Normalisation du Québec (BNQ) has launched the development of its own certification program for compostable plastics.

The development of the protocol for this certification pro-gram is being overseen by a balanced committee made up of suppliers, converters, users, etc. CPIA is represented on this committee by a Technical Advisor from its Environ-ment and Plastics Industry Council (EPIC). The protocol will be based on existing standards, including ASTM 6400, with particular requirements including trace elements and com-postability (degradation/disintegration, biodegradation and

Politics


eco-toxicity). Those plastic bags which meet the protocol will be assigned a BNQ mark or symbol to attest to their compostability. The BNQ program is expected to be a national one that will harmonize with other certification programs, such as the American BPI one. A probable outcome of the program may be that Canadian munici-palities will accept only certified compostable plastics in their composting programs.

Degradable bags and recycling

Many Canadians currently have access to plastic bag recycling through either in-store recycling programs or in municipal curbside collection programs. In fact, recyclable plastic bags and film represents about 20 to 25% of the entire plastic waste stream in Canada. These plastic bags and films are recycled into trash bags, new carry-out sacks or are used to produce plastic lumber and plastic fibre composites.

The increased interest in compostable bags has raised the concern for what, if any, will be the effect of compostable bags on the already established plastic bag and film recycling stream. A testing program has been launched to investigate this. The test is being supported by Recyc-Québec (a quasi-governmental agency), the City of Montreal (population of over two million), the Canadian Oxo-degradable Plastics Institute (OPI) and the Plastic Film Manufacturers Association of Canada (a council of CPIA). The testing will see various percentages of oxo-degradable and hydro-degradable (certified compostable) bags mixed separately with conventional polyethylene bags. This mixture will then be re-extruded into film and plaques, which will be aged under specific conditions of moisture, temperature and ultra-violet light for various time intervals. Upon completion of the aging process, the material’s physical proper-ties will be measured (tensile, impact, notched izod, etc.). The results attained will be compared to the results achieved from conventional materials. This testing is expected to be completed by late fall 2006, with the results published before year end. (Check the EPIC web site at www.plastics.ca/epic for the posting of these results.)

Degradable plastics and litter

Although there has been some interest in promoting degradable plas-tics as a means of dealing with litter, CPIA believes that litter is a behav-ioural problem and not a material-specific one. Waste audits have shown that plastic bags represent a very small percentage of litter – less than one per cent. That, coupled with the fact that Canada experiences very cold temperatures in the winter months where not much of anything has a chance to degrade, has led the CPIA to promote education as a means of changing people’s behaviour and combating the litter problem.

In summary

The interest in Canada in using compostable plastic bags in municipal composting facilities is on the rise. And, with more and more Canadian municipalities encouraging their residents to continue to divert waste from landfill and participate in municipal composting programs, this in-terest is expected to continue to rise in the months and years ahead.

Politics


The use of compostable plastic bags, however, brings into question the validity of a product’s environmental claims. Municipalities – and residents – need to be able to rely on products performing in the manner expected. As a result, the BNQ is developing its own certification program, one that will be interchangeable with other in-ternationally recognized certification programs. At the same time, testing is underway to determine what, if any, effects the integration of compostable plastic bags will have on the already established plastic bag recycling stream. The results of these tests are expected to be available by year end.

CPIA believes that there is indeed a market for de-gradable plastics, such as compostable plastic bags. These markets, however, remain only niche markets at this time.

www.plastics.ca/epic.


Politics

Federal Biobased Products Preferred Procurement Program

The Federal Biobased Products Preferred Procurement Program provides that Federal agencies in the USA must give purchasing preference to biobased products designa-ted by this program. The authority for the program is included in the Farm Security

and Rural Investment Act (FSRIA) of 2002. Section 9002 of this Act provides for a preferred procurement and labeling program and defines biobased products as commercial or indus-trial products that are composed, in whole or in significant part, of biological products or renewable domestic agricultural materials (including plant, animal, and marine materials) or forestry materials. Domestic content is interpreted to mean content not only from the USA but also from any country with which the United States has a preferential trade agreement. Countries that are signatories to NAFTA and CAFTA, for example, will have their qualifying biobased products treated as domestic products.

The US congress created this program

To spur demand growth for new biobased products

To grow demand for agricultural commodities

To encourage development of processing and manufacturing in rural communities

To capture environmental benefits

To enhance the Nation‘s energy security

The program requires, that all Federal agencies in the USA must give preference to biobased products that have been designated by the program, unless:

The products are not reasonably available

The products fail to meet performance standards for the application intended

The products are available only at an unreasonable price

Integration with other preference programs

The RCRA recycled products program, for example, has priority over the biobased program. Where environmental attributes are available in biobased product but not RCRA product, biobased product may be purchased. There are other preference programs like Energy Star, Environmentally Preferable etc, that are to be implemented by Federal agencies in an integrated manner.

What does the program do for Federal agencies, manufacturers and vendors?

The program encourages the purchase of more environmentally sustainable products. It helps agencies to identify those products, it will increase the availability and diversity of biobased products and it helps agencies reduce environmental footprint.

For manufacturers and vendors of biobased products, the program creates a preferred market. It provides large scale demonstration of biobased products performance in use and spurs development of new biobased products. Furthermore it helps to develop alternatives to fossil energy based products.

Federal Agencies in the USA shall buy bioplastics products

Standards and Status of the

Federal Biobased Products Preferred

Procurement Program

Article contributed by Dr. Marvin Duncan, Senior Agricultural

Economist, USDA/Office of the Chief Economist/Office of Energy Policy

and New Uses, Washington D.C., USA


Food and feed, motor vehicle fuels and electricity are excluded from the program.

The agencies‘ specifications must comply

Within one year after the final guidelines were issued, all agency specifications require use of biobased products, the agencies must create a corresponding procurement program, a biobased products preference program and an agency promotion program. In addition an annual review and monitoring of effectiveness of agency‘s program must be in place. Within one year after designation, all agencies must give procurement preference to these items.

The requirement applies to the purchase or acquisition of a procurement item where the purchase price exceeds $10,000, or, where the quantity of such items purchased in the preceding fiscal year was $10,000 or more.

What manufacturers can do

Manufacturers of biobased products can claim coverage under the program for all products for which generic groupings of products have been designated by rule making. They can certify that a product‘s biobased content is consistent with statutory definition and that the biobased content meets the minimum requirement, using ASTM standard test. Manufacturers can also certify that a product will perform in the use to which it will be put.

Biodegradability required

To be designated for preferred procurement, items of single use bioplastic products must meet appropriate ASTM standard for biodegradability. Some examples are cutlery, garbage bags or food containers.

The Federal agencies may ask the manufacturer for additional information such as

The biobased content of a product using ASTM tests.

Environmental and health effects of product use using the National Institute of Standards and Technology‘s (NIST) BEES analysis or ASTM standard

Product‘s life cycle cost using the same standards

Results of product performance testing against industry recognized performance standards

Status of the program

The final rule to establish the program has been published in the Federal Register in January 2005. In addition, the first six items (groupings of products) for preferred procurement have been designated by final rule (published in the Federal Register in March 2006). Second and third rounds of proposed rules to designate items (10 items each) have been published in the Federal Register for public comment.

The next steps of formal clearance of the proposed designation rules are underway. Examples of items proposed for designation are for example insulating foams, composite panels, biodegradable containers, biodegradable films, biobased cutlery, durable plastic films, biobased carpet etc. More than 170 items identified so far.

When designating product items, USDA must also provide information to Federal agencies concerning relative price, performance as well as environmental and public health benefits. Where appropriate USDA should recommend a level of biobased content in the procured product.

Manufacturers can help USDA get products designated

USDA needs information on a number of individual products within an item (generic grouping) in order to designate that grouping by rule. Manufacturers can contact Steve Devlin at Iowa State University with product information.

Qualifying biobased products may gain use of the U.S.D.A. CERTIFIED BIOBASED PRODUCT label and logo. The use of the label is granted for limited number of years with re-authorization. The proposed rule to establish the labeling program is currently in formal clearance in USDA.

www.biobased.oce.usda.gov

Politics


Politics

After months of preparatory meetings and discus-sions, Belgian BioPackaging (BBP) was founded on 19 April 2006.

The main objective of this national association is to promote the interest and use of compostable packag-ing made from renewable resources. Therefore the first target will be to get access to the green waste bin sys-tem in Belgium for manmade biodegradable and com-postable packaging.

Belgian BioPackaging

For Belgian BioPackaging this is a big challenge while it is not evident in a country as Belgium where packaging is part of federal legislation and waste treatment is dealt with by regional authorities. We know that authorities have cer-tain sympathy for those products, but unfortunately they don’t want to push them yet.

In addition, there are certain differences in the collection of waste between the North (separate collection and com-posting) and the South (no separations of the green waste) of Belgium, which makes it not easy.

Therefore BBP gives much attention to legislation and certification by means of marketing and communication.

Like in many other countries, in Belgium too the interest for bioplastics and compostable packaging is constantly growing over the last years. This growing demand is an-swered with an increasing number of products. However, these are relatively expensive which has to do with scale. Prices are expected to go down as soon as bigger volumes get involved, but those volumes can only grow when indus-try can offer lower prices. This deadlock now is tackled by

Contributed article by Dirk Wens, President of Belgian BioPackging

Getting access to green waste bin for biodegradable

and compostable products

retailers deciding in favour of bio renewable packaging for other applications than just organic food, with a growing market share as a result.

Although communicated as compostable towards the consumers, this compostable packaging, certified “OK Compost” and/or “OK Compost Home” is not accepted in the green bin in Flanders (the northern, dutch or flemish speaking region of Belgium). Main concern is that open-ing the green bin for these compostable packaging mate-rials will lead to pollution of the collected fraction. After many years of education and good direct communication, the Flemish people now are very meticulous waste sorters. As a result, the pollution in the very pure biowaste is esti-mated at less then 1,5% of the total fraction.

This suspiciousness of the waste collectors and manag-ers of composting installations regarding the possible in-take of non biodegradable substances may be justified but it is refraining very much the breakthrough of bio renew-able packaging.

For all these reasons BBP wants to build bridges be-tween the different authorities of which some have long-time insisted to have one national communication partner, but also to prepare a clear and direct communication to-wards consumers with a recognisable (preferably Europe-an) logo that stands undeniably for compostable together with clear advices for waste separation of biodegradable and compostable packaging in the green waste bin.

Photo: Eosta


Opinion

Bioplastics represent a new class of materials with advantageous origin mostly from renewable resources

and with advantageous recovery qualities. Both, energy recovery (incineration with exploitation of energy) and composting (for qualified products) are environmentally benign methods and from a life cycle analysis (LCA) viewpoint, there seem to be no decisive differences. The ecological effects of the two alternatives are determined to a high extent by the available infrastructure. However, where the infrastructure is in place for both methods, a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of both recovery routes seems appropriate. Dr. Michael Heyde of Duales System Deutschland (DSD) and Joeran Reske of Interseroh share their thoughts with our readers.

Composting of products certified to EN 13432 or ASTM D 6400 rep-resents a new recovery option for plastic products such as films, bags, catering supplies and food packaging e.g. for fruit & vegetables, dairy products, pastry etc. Bags for example in their ‘afterlife’ can be used for the collection of biowaste in the kitchen. It is rewarding to establish the biological recovery for the new product class:

Composting mimics the way in which nature steadily recycles material in the steps production/conversion - use - biodegradation – which can be described as a closed loop model. Composting satisfies this natural pattern, whereas incineration is only used very rarely by nature for the recovery of material (i.e. in a few habitats with a special ‘fire ecology’). When it comes to recovery, nature uses more than only the materials’ energy content. A clear hint, that incineration may not be the optimum choice. In addition, the energy which is received from incineration as the sole useful ‘product’ can be supplied by several other routes in-cluding biomass and solar based energy sources. Concerning the eco-efficiency of the various recovery options, anaerobic digestion seems anyway most effective, as it supplies valuable products (compost) and energy at the same time.

Composting is a ‘lean’ and technically straightforward recovery ap-proach. The infrastructure is usually established at a local level with e.g. one composting plant per 100,000 inhabitants. Among other ad-vantages, this saves emissions during the transport of waste and from the product: the compost is used nearby in agriculture, where it saves fertiliser (thus it saves energy) and contributes to soil fertility and plant health, leading to higher yields etc. This shows that it is important to reflect the whole system when judging the recovery routes. Countries with a considerable share of organic waste favour biological recycling, which additionally helps them to address the problem of soil depletion. Especially several countries in the southern hemisphere have started to implement corresponding structures.

Due to its low technical and logistical demand, composting is also a very cost effective recovery method when compared with incineration, which is usually performed in big plants with special exhaust gas puri-fication etc.

Thus it is no coincidence but rather common sense, that consumers - according to all surveys performed so far – clearly welcome the new ap-proach and especially like the organic way of recovery. This is something they can understand and in the event that they have a compost pile in their garden, they can even try it themselves. So not only the quality of re-newable origin, but also the compostability of such packaging represents a valuable asset towards customers.

Conclusion: Even if energy recovery is also a benign method, compos-ting is the more economical and nature-orientated approach. Since it can be used for a wide range of bioplastic applications e.g. in the bag & packaging sector, it will contribute to more sustainable waste manage-ment.

Pro composting

About Interseroh:

INTERSEROH is specialised in waste re-covery logistics and supplies industry with approx. 6 million tonnes of secondary raw materials (steel, wood, paper, plastics). In-terseroh operates the second dual system for the recovery of consumer packaging in Germany and works on an economically and environmentally sound recovery on behalf of the users of compostable packaging. Imple-mentation is coordinated in close coopera-tion with municipalities and recovery plants. A precondition for these services is the certi-fication of compostability, so that only quali-fied packaging enters the biowaste stream.

www.interseroh.de

Joeran Reske BioPlastics and Compostable Packaging ISD INTERSEROH Dienstleistungs GmbH Cologne, Germany

German bio bin


Opinion

This confrontation shall form the initiation of a wider discussion. There will be more extensive description and reports about the different recovery options in our coming issues. We encourage you, our readers, to send us your opinion to [email protected].

Energy recovery is possible for all types of bioplastics and their com-posites, regardless of their raw material basis and compostability. Composting by contrast is restricted to entirely compostable bioplas-tics, making their certification (e.g. to EN 13432) crucial.

Ecological advantages of bioplastics packaging made from renewable resources over petrobased plastics packaging mainly stem from their energy recovery after use. They thus can help to substitute fossil re-sources such as coal, natural gas and oil in a twofold way: first in the production of the packaging material, then in their second use as a climate neutral energy carrier.

As energy recovery is only impaired by chlorine or heavy metals, there are no problems to be expected from the processing of used bioplastics currently on the market. On the contrary, biobased plastics improve the environmental impact of the use of RDF (refuse derived fuels) regard-ing the CO2 balance. Composting on the other hand is impaired by all inorganic components, their share being expected to rise with bioplas-tics being introduced to the organic waste stream (e.g. compostable and non-compostable plastics being disposed in the same bin). In or-der to ensure the marketability of the recycling product “compost” it then will become necessary to introduce the sorting of the entire waste stream (bio waste and bioplastics packaging) before processing it. With the arising costs to be allocated completely to the bioplastics the pro-claimed cost advantage of composting over energy recovery in becom-ing highly debatable.

When choosing among alternative recycling routes, there are last but not least legal aspects to be taken into account. In Germany for ex-ample, the joint collection and processing of bio waste and used pack-aging leads to questions that arise from the “mix” of responsibilities to be taken over by the public sector for the bio waste and those to be taken over by the private industry for the used packaging. Among oth-ers these questions concern the rules and obligations to call for ten-ders and the bargaining over the correct splitting of costs: Aspects that challenge the practicability of such a jointly used system as well as its calculability.

General observations:

The question from which and how many ecologically efficient recycling methods for bioplastics you may choose in the long run is closely related to the choice of the collection system and the nature of the materials to be collected by it.

The use of bio waste bins for the collection of bioplastics packaging does exclude particular types of bioplastic packaging (namely all those that are not compostable) and moreover restricts - due to the nature and inevitable mixture with bio waste - the choice (and competition) among alternative ecologically efficient recycling routes.

Pro energy recovery

Dr.-Ing. Michael Heyde Head of Technology Development Der Grüne Punkt - Duales System Deutschland GmbH

Who is “Der Grüne Punkt - Duales System Deutschland GmbH”:

Founded 1990 in anticipation of the Pack-aging Ordinance, Der Grüne Punkt - Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD) organises nationwide the separate collection, the sort-ing and, in the case of plastics, the recycling of used sales packaging in Germany.

For further information on the DSD core business and other service offers see www.gruener-punkt.de.

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Basics

Biobased and biodegradable plastics can form the basis for an en-vironmentally preferable, sustainable alternative to current ma-terials based exclusively on petroleum feedstocks [1]. If products

are biodegradable and compostable, additionally to an energy recovery option biological recovery can be applied (see also page 32/33)

A closer view to the expression “biobased” will be given in one of the next issues of bioplastics MAGAZINE. This article will discuss the different terms degradable, biodegradable and compostable, all of which are often mixed up when talking about bioplastics.

When designing a new product, it is important to consider its ecologi-cal footprint especially as it relates to its ultimate disposability. Of partic-ular concern are plastics used in single-use, disposable packaging and consumer goods. Designing these materials to be biodegradable and en-suring they end up in an appropriate disposal system is environmentally and ecologically sound. For example, by composting biodegradable plas-tic and paper waste along with other „organic“ compostable materials like yard, food, agricultural wastes, much-needed carbon-rich compost (humic material) can be generated. Compost amended soil has benefi-cial effects by increasing organic carbon, increasing water and nutrient retention, reducing chemical inputs, and suppressing plant disease. Composting is increasingly used for maintaining the sustainability of the agriculture system. In many countries food wastes along with other biowastes are separately collected and composted to generate a good, valuable soil amendment that goes back on the farmland to reinitiate the carbon cycle [1].

Polymer materials have been designed in the past to resist degrada-tion. The challenge is to design polymers that have the necessary func-tionality during use, but disintegrate after use. More importantly, the breakdown products should not be toxic or persist in the environment, and should be completely assimilated (as food) by soil microorganisms in a defined time frame. In order to ensure market acceptance of biode-gradable products, the ultimate biodegradability of these materials in the appropriate waste management infrastructures (more correctly the assimilation/utilization of these materials by the microbial populations present in the disposal infrastructures) in short time frames of a few weeks only needs to be demonstrated beyond doubt [1,3].

However, the above still does not give a clear differentiation between the expressions degradable, biodegradable and compostable plastics. Here is a try:

Degradable – Biodegradable – Compostable

Photos: BASF


BasicsDegradable plastics

This is the most general term. It includes both, plastics that degrade by physical or biological factors (sunlight or heat, or microbial action). So-called oxodegradable (i.e.: degradation accelerated by catalysts or additives at elevated temperatures) or photo-degradable starch-poly-ethylene plastics can cause environmental problems. This kind of deg-radation results in small fragments that pollute compost, landfill or marine environment. In addition these materials do not degrade as fast as compostable plastics and may leave small fragments in soil. These degraded hydrophobic fragments with high surface areas can migrate into the water table and soil where they can attract and hold hydrophobic highly toxic elements like PCB and DDT up to one million times back-ground levels – effectively functioning as a toxic chemicals transport system in the environment. Therefore one must ensure that the product is completely biodegradable in a very short time as determined by the disposal infrastructure [2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

Biodegradable Plastics

Biodegradable Plastics are plastics that are completely assimilated (utilized) by the microorganisms present in the disposal system as food for their energy (enter into microbial food chain). This complete micro-bial assimilation/utilization is measured by the complete conversion of the carbon of the test plastic to CO2 during the microbial process taking place inside the cell.

Compostable Plastics

In addition to being biodegradable by microorganisms, to call a plastic “compostable”, a time factor has to be obeyed. Regulated for example by the standards ASTM 6400 (Specification for Compostable Plastics), ASTM D6868 (Biodegradable Papercoatings1) or EN 13432 (Compostable Packaging), these materials will biodegrade in an industrial compost-ing environment in less than 180 days. Industrial compost environment means a defined temperature of about 60°C, a defined humidity and mi-croorganisms must be present. Compostable plastics as per this defini-tion do not leave fragments, which persist longer than approx. 12 weeks in the residue, they do not contain heavy metals or toxins and will sup-port plant life.

References:

[1] Ramani Narayan, Michigan State University, Biobased & Biodegradable Polymer Materials: Rationale, Drivers, and Technology Exemplars, Presented at the National American Chemical Society, Division of Polymer Chemistry meeting, San Diego (2005); ACS Sym-posium Ser (An American Chemical Society Publication) 939 June 2006

[2] Joseph Greene, California State University, Biodegradation of Compostable Plastics in Green Yard-Waste Compost Environment, Presented at the International Degradable Plastics Symposium, BioEnvironmental Polymer Society (BEPS), June 17, 2006, Chicago, USA

[3] Joeran Reske, Beauty of bioplastics, Waste Management World, 02/03/05, www.earthscan.co.uk

[4] From Algalita Marine Research Foundation – www.algalita.org/pelagic_plastic.html

[5] Y. Mato, T. Isobe, H. Takada, H. Kahnehiro, C. Ohtake, and T. Kaminuma, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2001, 35, 318-324

[6] Ramani Narayan, Biobased and Biodegradable Polymer Materials: Principles, Concepts, and Technology Exemplars; World Polymer Congress, Macro 2006, Brazil.

1 Exact title: Specification for Biodegradable Plastics Used as Coatings on Paper and Other Compostable Substrates

Acknowledgements: bioplastics MAGAZINE is grateful to Professor Ramani Narayan, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, Michigan State University, Professor Joseph Greene, Department of Mechanical Engineering Me-chatronic, Engineering and Manufacturing Technology, California State University, Chico, California, and Joeran Reske, BioPlastics and Compostable Packaging, ISD INTERSEROH Dienstleistungs GmbH, Cologne, Germany for their support.

Comments or opinions are welcome, please send them to [email protected].

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Logos Part 2: The “Compostable”

logo of BPI: Latest Developments in North America

for Compostable Materials

Over the past 24 months, interest in biodegradable and compostable materials has mushroomed, along with products certified by the Biodegradable Products

Institute (BPI). Today, the array of BPI approved products in-cludes hot and cold drink cups, trays, plates, and bowls made from palm husks, recycled paper fiber, and cutlery derived from corn. North American manufacturers are looking for ways to maximize the use of renewable materials, in order to lessen the environmental impact of these new products, take advantage of new buying regulations by the US Government and to reduce impacts from higher oil and energy prices.

Growth of BPI and Certified Products

The BPI started in 2000 with Cereplast, NatureWorks and Novamont as founding members, who were joined shortly thereafter by BASF. The organization was formed to address two issues:

Lack of understanding as to the role of compostable pro-ducts in today’s society;

Easy identification of products that meet ASTM D6400 (Compostable Plastics) or ASTM D6868 (Compostable Pa-ckaging). Norms comparable to EN 13432.

The BPI and its members worked with the US Compos-ting Council to create an independent certification effort for compostable products. Moreover, the BPI developed coope-rative agreements with DIN Certco and European Bioplastics (formerly IBAW) in Europe and the Biodegradable Plastics Society (BPS) in Japan to harmonize certification procedures

and laboratories. This made it possible for manufacturers to save money by testing their materials just once in any of a number of laboratories around the world and then take these results to certification organizations around the world. Additionally as part of the cooperative agreements, the or-ganizations agreed to help create global standards through ISO.

The initial applications carrying the BPI’s “Compostable Logo” were primarily bags for the collection of yard trim-mings and food scraps. The list continues to expand as ma-nufacturers realize the value of compostable foodservice items. The list of manufacturers continues to grow rapidly, with the approval of two hot drink cup manufacturers in Au-gust, 2006.

The BPI symbol is licensed to products that demonstrate that they meet ASTM D6400 or ASTM D6868, based on testing in approved, independent labs. Manufacturers of products or resins seeking to certify a product should contact the BPI’s Executive Director to discuss the certification process and costs. This can be done via www.bpiworld.org or by contac-ting [email protected]. The information needed for the certification process are a product description, formulation information and samples, approved laboratory test results. The compliance to ASTM D6400 or ASTM D6868 including, mineralization data, disintegration data, eco-toxicity data and a heavy metal analysis is also needed. Additionally, if the product has already been certified in Europe or Japan, that information will be helpful.

A certain number of products made of bioplastics are al-ready available in the market. Almost all of them are la-belled with some kind of a logo that tells the consumer about the special character of the plastics material used. These logos and their background are introduced by bio-plastics MAGAZINE in this series. Here questions such as: What is the origin and history of a logo? What does it mean? Which rules are involved with it? will be adressed.

Basics


Basics

Composting in North America

Today, the BPI’s symbol is recognized by composting pro-grams from San Francisco, California to Prince Edward Is-land in Eastern Canada. Many are surprised to learn of the strength of composting in North America. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US collects and composts 56% of its yard trimmings (approx 16 million tons annually). In addition, diversion and composting of food scraps exists in many forms across the continent. For ex-ample, the cities of San Francisco and Oakland, California have active residential programs, which will promote growth throughout up and down the West Coast. Toronto and sur-rounding communities have implemented food scrap coll-ection efforts for residents to augment “blue box” recycling programs. In the northeast US, the grocery industry is re-cognizing that 2/3rds of its wastes are food scraps. In areas with high landfills with tipping fees, composting can save them money.

The growth trends for composting are expected to conti-nue as communities and businesses look for ways to divert more materials and reduce the impacts of potential metha-ne emissions from landfills as well as saving money.

Biobased and Renewable Feedstocks

The search for new materials is also being driven in North America by customers who want more sustainable alterna-tives. The use of biobased or renewable feedstocks can be a way of reducing a product’s environmental footprint. To fa-

Biodegradable Products Institute, USA

cilitate this movement, the BPI and its members supported the development of ASTM D6868 to measure the percentage of material using carbon from renewable sources. This is the only test of its kind in the world today and enables accurate labeling and claim substantiation.

Today’s BPI Mission

The BPI’s activities and reach have grown as the market for these new applications has expanded. However, the mis-sion of the organization continues to focus on

The production, use and recovery biodegradable materials & organics recovery via composting

Development of the composting infrastructure, throug-hout North America

Utilization scientifically based specifications

Global harmonization of standards & specifications

Certification of products based on scientifically based specifications

Education

www.bpiworld.org


Agent or Distributor

FKuR, Willich, Germany, is the world leader in non-starch based bio-compounds, in full or partially made of renewable resources. In cooperation with the Fraunhofer Research Organisation we have deve-loped outstanding formulations that warrant high performance properties and ease of processing.

Joinouryoungteamasagentordistributorforworldwidepromotion.

For more information visit http://www.fkur.de/ fkurkompakt-en/index-job.htm

Companies in this issue:

8.2consulting

Organic Waste Systems n.v. Dok Noord 4 B-9000 Gent Belgium Tel: +32 9 233 02 04 Fax: +32 9 233 28 25 http://www.ows.be

TeuwenSustainableBusinessMoerbeihof 32661 LV BergschenhoekThe NetherlandsTel: +31 10 2025883Mob: +31 64 5296638www.tsb.nu

8.3Biodegradability& compostabilitytesting

Organic Waste Systems n.v. Dok Noord 4 B-9000 Gent Belgium Tel: +32 9 233 02 04 Fax: +32 9 233 28 25 http://www.ows.be

9.Researchinstitutes/Universities

UniversityofNaturalResourcesandAppliedLifeSciences,ViennaDepartmentforAgrobiotechnology,IFA-TullnInstituteforNaturalMaterialsTechnologyKonrad Lorenz Straße 20 3430 TullnTel.: +43 2272 66280 311Fax: +43 2272 66280 303www.ifa-tulln.ac.at

Suppliers Guide

Company Editorial Ad

Auchan 10, 23BASF 5, 34Belgian BioPackaging 30BEPS 8BioBag International 11BioPearls 31bioplastics24.com 6 31BPI 36California State University 35Carrefour 23Chameleon 12Champion 23Club Bioplastique 10Colormatrix 18Cortec 31Dairy Farmers of America 6Design & Source Productions 12Duales System Deutschland 32DuPont 8Earthsoul 11Econeer 8Ecopur 9Edeka 23Environment and Plastic Industry Council

24

Eosta 23, 30European Bioplastics 36 43FKuR 13Globetrotter 11Hallink 9 27Heritage Bag Company 9Holm Folienverarbeitung 11Huhtamaki 7Hycail 6Ihr Platz 20ILPA 5Institut für Recycling 6ISD Interseroh 20, 32, 35Jemaco 11Leclerc 10Leistritz 8,14Metabolix 9Metro 23Michigan State University 35natura packaging 1, 10, 23 19Nature & More 23NatureWorks 5, 7, 9, 12, 20NCAUR 9Netstal 16 44Novamont 21plasticker.com 31Plus 23PSM 9Rewe 23Sainsbury 23SIG Corpoplast 16Spar 5Spartech Corporation 9SPI 8Tate&Lyle 6Treofan 22 2USDA 9, 28Wiedmer 21

Career Credits


September 21-24, 2006Inno Bioplast 2006Siam ParagonBangkok, Thailandwww.nia.or.th/innobioplast

September 27-29, 2006BioPlastics 2006International Symposium on Bioplastics and Natural Fiber CompositesHotel Delta MontrealMontréal, Canadawww.bioplastics.ca

October 17 - 21, 2006FAKUMAFriedrichshafen, Germanywww.messe-friedrichshafen.de

October 29 - November 02, 2006PACK EXPOMcCormick Place, Chicago, Il, USAwww.packexpo.com

October, 2006The 2nd International Conference on Technology and Application of Biodegradable Polymers and Plastics (ICTABP-2)Bejing, Chinawww.degradable.org.cn

November, 20-24, 2006Salon de l‘EmballageParis-Nord, Villepintewww.emballageweb.com

November, 21-22, 2006European Bioplastics ConferenceBrussels, Belgiumhttp://conference.european-bioplastics.org www.european-bioplastics.org

November, 27-28, 2006BarrierPackaging (including bio-degradable packaging)Böblingen, Germanywww.barrierpackaging.de

December 4-5, 2006Second German WPC-CongressMaritim Hotel Cologne, Germanywww.wpc-kongress.de

Events

Event-Calendar

For the next issue of bioplastics MAGAZINE (among others) the following subjects are scheduled:

Special: Bioplastics in automotive applications

Basics: Definition: What is biobased

Logos Part 3

Events: Review of events like exhibitions and conferences

Next issues:01/07 March 200702/07 June 200703/07 September 200704/07 November 2007

Next Issue


Documents

bioplastics MAGAZINE issue 02/2006