Editorial dear readers
Editorial dear readers The British poet and essayist Leigh Hunt (1784 – 1859) once said that ‘Colours are the smiles of nature’. If you agree to this statement or not, it is definitely true that colours are an important part of our life. So we also might want to have our bioplastics products coloured. And the colorants needed for that, should be biobased where possible, and biodegradable – and of course not toxic. So one of the editorial focuses in this issue is “additives and masterbatches”, not only for colours but also for impact modifiers, antiblock, chain extenders and many more. Another topic in this issue is rigid packaging, such as thermoformed PLA and sugar cane trays. At a Thermoforming Conference organized by SPE, where I had the pleasure to give a presentation about bioplastics, the interest in this material class was huge. Many of the delegates weren’t aware of the potential bioplastics are already offering today. The biggest part in this issue, however is a comprehensive preview on interpack. From April 24 to 30 the packaging world is meeting in Düsseldorf, Germany. And bioplastics are a significant part of it. About 40 exhibitors show their products in hall 7a where a 1000m² special group exhibition is organized by European Bioplastics in co-operation with Messe Düsseldorf. We from bioplastics MAGAZINE are looking forward to seeing some of you there. Yours, Michael Thielen Publisher bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/08] Vol. 3
Content April 03|2008 Special Rigid Packaging 24 interpack Preview Comprehensive interpack prievew 10 Editorial 03 News 05 Suppliers Guide 42 Event Calendar 46 Events Preview Focus on Performance Biopolymers 08 Comparison of Different Bioplastic Materials 08 Biodegradable Plastics Packaging 09 Processing Rigid PLA Packaging for Meat Products 28 Materials Master Batches Enable the Biopolymer Industry 30 ‘Green‘ Packaging for Electronic Components 32 Chain Extenders Improve Processing of 43 PLA Biopolymers Politics Change the World with Love, Passion 38 and Commitment Opinion Bioplastic Man 40 Impressum Publisher / Editorial Dr. Michael Thielen Samuel Brangenberg Rosemarie Karner, Contributing Editor Philipp Thielen, Contributing Editor Layout/Production Mark Speckenbach, Jörg Neufert Head Office Polymedia Publisher GmbH Hackesstr. 99 41066 Mönchengladbach, Germany phone: +49 (0)2161 664864 fax: +49 (0)2161 631045 info@bioplasticsmagazine.com www.bioplasticsmagazine.com Media Adviser Elke Schulte, Katrin Stein phone: +49(0)2359-2996-0 fax: +49(0)2359-2996-10 es@bioplasticsmagazine.com Print Tölkes Druck + Medien GmbH Höffgeshofweg 12 47807 Krefeld, Germany Print run: 7,000 copies bioplastics magazine ISSN 1862-5258 bioplastics magazine is published 6 times in 2008. This publication is sent to qualified subscribers (149 Euro for 6 issues). bioplastics MAGAZINE is read in more than 80 countries. Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher The fact that product names may not be identified in our editorial as trade marks is not an indication that such names are not registered trade marks. bioplastics MAGAZINE tries to use British spelling. However, in articles based on information from the USA, American spelling may also be used. bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/08] Vol. 3
