GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT IN THREE WAYS sebamed is breaking new ground with its new shower care series which is good in three ways for the environment: The packaging is made from I’m green Polyethylene and consists of 77% renewable resources. The innovative tube uses 20% less material than the previous one, due to a shoulderless design and new closure. This new shower care is free from microplastics, parabens and mineral oils.
Editorial dear readers With the holidays over, the new year soon got off to a rousing start. Even as I write these lines our readers in China are holding their own New Year’s celebrations as they enter the “Year of the Rat” – whilst suffering through the Corona virus crisis. There are rumours that Chinaplas 2020 might even have to be postponed to a later date. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the epidemic will be under control soon. I recently read an editorial by Jim Callari, Editorial Director of Plastics Technology about plastic bag bans etc., and what he wrote gave me food for thought. We read a lot about pollution, single use items and bans. And we read a lot of nonsense. At inceptivemind.com, for instance, I recently read that “One billion plastic straws are used every day in the world. Most of them end up in the oceans” – which is absolute hogwash. Headlines bashing bioplastics and bioplastics products are daily fare. Yet, a closer look at these publications and blogs brings to light a frightening number of misconceptions based on a sheer lack of knowledge. And, in my view, something similar holds regarding the single use plastics ban of the European Commission, which does not even exempt any biodegradable plastics. Banning straws, balloon sticks and cotton buds is a symbolic act, motivated solely by pure actionism. And it not only threatens thousands of jobs, and fuels plastic hysteria but could well drive society to adopting solutions that are often ecologically worse. We could spend hours and hours trying to refute the endless stream of misinformation churned out on a regular basis. But I don’t think that’s the solution. Instead, I’m urging you, the bioplastics industry to tell your success stories. Get the positive messages across. We at bioplastics MAGAZINE are here to spread the word. Now let’s come to the current issue of bioplastics MAGAZINE. While the highlight topics of this issue are Automotive and Foam, we’ve also chosen to put the spotlight on Recycling. EcoComunicazione.it And a must-read is Michael Carus’ article - or more precisely, call to action - on the need for a “Renewable carbon strategy” on p. 20. He argues that, to get away from fossil resources, the plastics (and chemical) industry should look at three sources of renewable carbon for their products: biomass, captured CO 2 and the recycling of existing products. It is a strategy that we, as bioplastics MAGAZINE, strongly support. We have therefore also included several articles on interesting innovative developments in terms of the recycling of conventional plastics. And we intend to do so more frequently in future. We plan to publish selected articles on the recycling of conventional plastics as well as articles on plastics from captured CO 2 or CH 4 (methane). We are looking forward to your feedback on this. WWW.MATERBI.COM as orange peel adv arancia_bioplasticmagazine_01_02.2020_210x297.indd 1 24/01/20 10:26 As usual, you’ll also find some of the most recent news items on materials and applications from the world of bioplastics. Lastly, we’d like to remind you of our 6th PLA World Congress in Munich, Germany on May 19 th and 20 th . Also, please note that we still have very few speaking slots available. The call for papers is also open for the 2 nd PHA platform World Congress scheduled to take place in Cologne, Germany in early September. If you have an interesting topic to report on, please let us know. In the meantime, see you at Chinaplas hopefully later this year, or at one of the many other interesting events or conferences. Until then, please enjoy reading this latest issue of bioplastics MAGAZINE. And don’t forget: For current news, be sure to check the latest reports, breaking news and daily news updates at the revamped website www. bioplasticsmagazine.com Sincerely yours r1_01.2020 bioplastics MAGAZINE Vol. 14 ISSN 1862-5258 Highlights Automotive | 14 Recycling | 38 Cover Story | 30 Biobased faux fur Jan / Feb 01 | 2020 ... is read in 92 countries Follow us on twitter! www.twitter.com/bioplasticsmag Like us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/bioplasticsmagazine bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/20] Vol. 15 3
