Politics Fig 6: Textile
Politics Fig 6: Textile applications Fig 8: Mobile phone housing Fig 9: Note book PC housing most popular products made of biomass-based plastics which can be found in most convenience stores in Japan. Fig. 5 shows a wrapping film cutter that was originally made of steel. It was then produced from PLA because of its excellent cutting performance together with its safety, and the advantage of having no metal parts to dispose of. In the field of textile applications many high grade products have been launched on the market as shown in Fig. 6. Fig 7: Needle carpet made of PLA (at G8 World Summit Meeting Hokkaido 2008) At the G-8 world summit meeting and the related conference in Hokkaido, Japan, a needle carpet made of PLA caught the attention of the top politicians worldwide (Fig. 7). Applications in durable products A most impressive area of application in Japan is in the field of durable products. Japanese companies have been making significant efforts to utilise biomass-based plastics for durable products such as consumer electronics and automobile products on the basis of the latest material chemistry and processing technology improvements. The housing for the NTT DOCOMO mobile phone (Fig. 8) is made of a kenaf-fibre-reinforced PLA composite developed by Yunitika. Fujitsu presented a notebook PC with a housing made of a PLA/PC nano-blend developed by Toray (Fig. 9) Fuji-Xerox launched a copying machine for which PLA blend materials were used in the movable parts. One of the first automobile related products was a PLAbased floor mat presented by Toyota in 2003. And many Japanese car manufactures are continuously developing and launching various products (as can be seen in this and previous ‘automotive’ issues of bioplastics MAGAZINE). www.jbpaweb.net 44 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/09] Vol. 4
Events February 25-27, 2009 GPEC (Global Plastics Environmental Conference) Disney‘s Coronado Springs Resort Orlando, Florida, USA www.sperecycling.org March 02-04, 2009 Sustainability in Packaging Rosen Plaza Hotel Orlando, Florida, USA www.sustainability-in-packaging.com March 11-13 , 2009 9 th International Automobile Recycling Congress The Westin Grand Munich, Arabellapark Munich Germany www.icm.ch March 12, 2009 Conference on sustainable packaging within the framework of Anuga FoodTec Kölnmesse, Cologne Germany www.sustainable-packaging.de March 16-18 , 2009 World Biofuels Markets Brussels Expo Brussels, Belgium April 23 , 2009 Bioplastics Processing and Properties Loughborough University, UK www.soci.org/SCI/events/details.jsp?eventID=EV1297 June 22-26, 2009 NPE2009: The International Plastics Showcase McCormick Place Chicago, Illinois, USA www.npe.org September 9-10, 2009 7th Int. Symposium „Materials made of Renewable Resources“ Messe Erfurt Erfurt, Germany www.narotech.de www.worldbiofuelsmarkets.com www.biopolymersummit.com Anz_SusPack_4c_210x148_en:09-01-26 27.01.2009 11:32 Uhr Seite 1 September 2009 2 nd PLA Bottle Conference hosted by bioplastics MAGAZINE within the framework of drinktec Munich / Germany September 28-30, 2009 www.pla-bottle-conference.com Biopolymers Symposium 2009 Embassy Suites, Lakefront - Chicago Downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA You can meet us! Please contact us in advance by e-mail. www.sustainable-packaging.de ©iStockphoto.com | Ernesto Solla Domínguez | Oktay Ortakcioglu | Hanquan Chen Conference on sustainable packaging March 12 th 2009 Koelnmesse, 09:00 – 17:00 In the course of the Anuga FoodTec With simultaneous translation The future of food packaging Entrance Conference incl. catering 350€ plus VAT. With the purchase of the ticket you will receive a free pass for the international trade fair Anuga Food- Tec (March 10 th – 13 th 2009) Contact Dominik Vogt Phone: +49 (0) 22 33 – 48 14 49 dominik.vogt@nova-institut.de The discussions about environmental protection, recycling and resource shortages during the last few years have enhanced the search for “sustainable packaging solutions”. The conference aims at giving the participants an overview of the political framework, market developments, influence factors, new options and ecological assessments. Organiser Partners Media partner bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/09] Vol. 4 45 nova-Institut GmbH | Chemiepark Knapsack | Industriestrasse | 50354 Huerth | Germany | www.nova-institut.de/nr
