News NatureWorks Ingeo
News NatureWorks Ingeo Resins Certified Four Star Renewable NatureWorks Ingeo PLA is the first polymer to earn a four-star ‘OK biobased‘ rating from European certification organization Vinçotte of Vilvoorde, Belgium. The Vinçotte ‘OK biobased‘ certification (see bM 06/2009), meets the ASTM D6866 standard and quantifies for consumers the amount of renewable carbon content products. The certification recognizes four levels of renewable carbon content: One star for between 20 and 40 % biobased carbon, two stars for 40 to 60 %, three stars for 60 to 80 %, and four stars awarded for more than 80 % biobased carbon content. According to the test NatureWorks Ingeo plastic resin is made for 99 % from renewable plant sugars - renewable carbon. In reality all the carbon is biobased, but 99 % reflects the accuracy of the test. Every grade of Ingeo resin — 40 in all — received the four-star certification. “We are proud to announce the first ‘OK biobased‘ certificates, and we congratulate NatureWorks on its across-the-board four-star rating,” said Petra Michiels, contract manager for ‘OK biobased‘. “With the Ingeo resins now certified, the four-star rating can be used as the foundation for downstream products, earning them an ‘OK biobased‘ rating.” “The ‘OK biobased‘ star rating serves as a sustainability indicator for consumers by identifying materials and products that are helping to alleviate the environmental problems associated with fossil fuels and greenhouse gases,” said Steve Davies, director of corporate communications and public affairs, NatureWorks. “Symbols on packages and products relating to the environment, such as the ‘OK biobased‘ stars, inform and influence consumer buying decisions. NatureWorks is proud to have the highest ‘OK biobased‘ certification ranking for the entire family of NatureWorks resins supplied to the fibers and plastics markets.” www.natureworksllc.com www.okbiobased.be Packaging Group From Belarus Looking for Partners Ecological conscience is starting to appear in Belarus though bioplastics industry and bioplastics market are still not created and not developing in this country. Being a part of Europe and viewing the global tendency for sustainability it’s obvious that bioplastics market will soon come to Belarus as well. In the current situation Belarusian group of companies SINERGIA recently announced to enter the industry and the market of bioplastics and to be a pioneer in Belarus in this field. The long and successful history in the packaging business with experience of multiple successfully executed projects, a broad business network, professional staff, vast production site and good knowledge of the market are combined with a strong will to join the market of bioplastics and move in the ecological direction. Sinergia Group has announced a wish to find professional partners for a project in bioplastics. Interesting geographical position of the country, a big new market due to customs union with Russia and Kazakhstan and a membership in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and EurAsEC (Eurasian Economic Community), agricultural country, sufficiency of raw materials and the benefits of Belarusian investment platforms make Belarus a calling country for investing into new projects. Sinergia Group solicits offers about production or promotion of sustainable products, technologies and services. The SINERGIA GROUP consists of: JSC ‘Interpack‘, founded in 1998, is a company manufacturing bags from polypropylene for bread and textile; self-adhesive labels; printing on adhesive tapes, film, paper JV ‘Packland‘ was founded in 2001. Today, the company is market leader in the Republic of Belarus in the field of protective packaging. The business directions are production of bubble film and special protective air cushioned mailers Mail Lite ® with the bubble film inside, providing of the Belarusian market with a wide range of protective and specialty packaging materials and systems. JSC ‘Sinergia‘ is the biggest supplier of materials, equipment and services on the packaging market of Belarus and was founded in 1992. www.interpack.by www.packland.by www.sinergia.by bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/10] Vol. 5
News Conference ‘Plastics in Automotive Engineering‘ Less Tax For Bioplastics in the Netherlands Every year in March, the German Engineers Association (VDI) holds its ‘Plastics in Automotive Engineering’ conference in Mannheim, Germany. The event, attended by more than 1000 automotive experts, this year featured ‘sustainability’ as one of the highlights. In a press conference, Professor Rudolf C. Stauber, ‘departmental manager of the engineering strength and materials department’ at the BMW group, and conference chair, pointed out that only 5% of the energy in an automobile’s life is is used during manufacture (including materials) and the rest is for operating, i.e. moving the vehicle around for a period of 15 to 20 years. Thus from his point of view, weight reduction leading to less fuel consumption is the key factor for sustainability. And (all) plastics contribute to light-weighting of automobiles. Concerning the use of biopolymers in BMW cars, Professor Stauber explained that there are no current plans but in the long run the market will show which way to go. Dr. Greiner, ‘project leader for renewable resources and lightweighting interior’ for Daimler, said that socalled drop-in-solutions i.e. traditional polymers made from renewable resources (PE or PP made from sugar cane for example) represent a promising route. Another way is to make new polymers such as polyamides from renewable resources, which offer even better properties - for example their density. bioplastics MAGAZINE reported earlier about Daimler being involved in such a project (see bM 01/2010). Biopolymers such as PLA or PHA have certain disadvantages, for example a 20% higher density than PP, and are better suited for packaging applications. In addition to their bioplastics activities, Daimler is a benchmark in the use of natural fibre reinforced applications and also strongly applies recycled plastics. In her conference presentation Sandra Springer ‘leader of sub-department process development / Product Unit Polymers’ of Volkswagen pointed out that in terms of the use of plastics and sustainability Volkswagen will continue to reduce the weight and also evaluate the use of CO 2 -neutral and renewable raw materials. Besides the cost factor for Volkswagen the secure supply of raw materials also plays an important role. Materials that Volkswagen are currently taking a close look at are biobased Polyethylene, PLA and PHA, but also the biobased Polyamides. All in all, the automotive-specific requirements have to be met. Besides thermal and mechanical properties these include long term behaviour, surface quality and smell. For the example of PLA she explained that current hurdles are the thermal properties leading to embrittlement, slow crystallisation speed leading to longer cycle times and the still relatively high price. MT Euro/kg The Netherlands instituted a Waste Fund in 2007, financed by a carbon tax on packaging. The Waste Fund helps to pay for the separate collection of household packaging waste at municipality level, while the tax encourages businesses to move towards the national recycling target: 42% of plastic packaging recycled by 2012 (http://ec.europa.eu). Above a threshold of 50 tonnes, producers and importers of packaged products have to pay a tax per kilogram of packaging material. Now, the tariffs have been adjusted for 2010, as Ady Jager, Business Development Manager for the Benelux and Germany of NatureWorks BV informed bioplastics MAGAZINE: “... and bioplastics have a separate status in this classification“ she says. The following graph shows the tax by material types per kilogramm: 1,00000 € 0,90000 € 0,80000 € 0,70000 € 0,60000 € 0,50000 € 0,40000 € 0,30000 € 0,20000 € 0,10000 € 0,00000 € 0,07950 € 0,47050 € 0,95060 € bioplastics plastics aluminum (incl alloys) 0,07950 € 0,07180 € paper/carton glass wood others packaging material 0,02100 € 0,17550 € In addition to funding the separate collection of plastic waste, the packaging tax has also helped to fund other waste reduction and reuse initiatives, including a popular anti-litter program. Daten bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/10] Vol. 5
