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Editorial dear readers Did you know … ? … that it is not only oil that is a limited resource ? Other resources are limited too, for example phosphor. The European Union does not have any phosphor resources at all. Arno Rosemarins of the Stockholm Environment Institute estimates that the existing global resources may last for just another 50 years (www.news.de). The agricultural land in Germany alone needs about 280,000 tonnes of phosphor per year. There is no life without phosphor ! Did you know that composting of bio-waste (kitchen bio-waste alone) can cover 10% of the German need for phosphor? This and other very short stories will constitute a new series of miniature articles in the coming issues of bioplastics MAGAZINE. This series will not be strictly limited to bioplastics topics … we might compare the degree of efficiency of beef versus rice, or photovoltaic versus biodiesel. So if you have some interesting insights for us to share with our readers, please let us know… One of the highlights in this current issue of bioplastics MAGAZINE is fibre applications. Like other thermoplastic resins, biopolymers such as PLA or PHA can be spun into fibres which can then be used as filaments for brushes or as fibres in nonwovens or textiles. The other highlights comprise paper coating and algae. Certainly the 6 th Bioplastics Award, this year for the first time awarded exclusively by bioplastics MAGAZINE, is another very important topic for us. Please see page 14 for the five finalists. The winner will be announced at the 6 th European Bioplastics Conference on November 22 nd in Berlin, Germany. European Bioplastics and bioplastics MAGAZINE would like you to keep in mind that the industry association and the leading publication of this industry are completely independent. However, bioplastics MAGAZINE is grateful to European Bioplastics for the chance to present the award on the stage at their conference. And then, we again would like to invite all those involved in PLA (its development, compounding, processing, use, etc.) to submit proposals for presentations for the 2 nd PLA World Congress. This event will be held on May 15 th and 16 th , 2012, in Munich, Germany. The team from bioplastics MAGAZINE is looking forward to welcoming you in Munich next spring. Until then, we hope you enjoy reading bioplastics MAGAZINE Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/bioplasticsmag Be our friend on Facebook: www.facebook.com/bioplasticsmagazine Sincerely yours Michael Thielen bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/11] Vol. 6 3
