Issue 02/2020

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News daily upated news at www.bioplasticsmagazine.com Carbios signs Plastics Pact Carbios, a French company pioneering new bio-industrial solutions to reinvent the lifecycle of plastic and textile polymers, recently announced the signing of the European Plastics Pact on the occasion of its official launch in Brussels on March 6th, 2020. This Pact forms a European network of companies, States and NGOs who want to join forces to create a true circular economy of plastics that enables all market players to meet, or even exceed, the plastic recycling targets set by the European Union. This public-private coalition will work, on all levels, to improve the recyclability and reusability of products by incorporating more recycled materials into new products and packaging. As such, Carbios’ innovation, in the field of plastic recycling, is a pioneering solution to help achieve these objectives. Already, the company has entered into a Joint Development Agreement with Novozymes, securing the production of Carbios’ proprietary PET-degrading enzymes at both a demonstration level and an industrial scale. The agreement allows the company to demonstrate the positive environmental impact of its technology, ensuing it will be able to provide its future customers with a ‘sustainable solution for the infinite recycling of PET-based products’. In a collaborative and cross-border approach, Carbios and Pact partners want to share their expertise to engage all stakeholders in virtuous management of the plastics lifecycle. In this context, the signatories will ensure a complementarity with existing global initiatives, whose foundations are aligned with the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the Circular Plastic Alliance. According to Jean-Claude Lumaret, CEO of Carbios, the European Pact marks a new step towards the deployment of a real circular economy based on innovation and collaboration between the market players and the Member States with the greatest commitment to sustainable development. “We are proud to contribute to its implementation and share this collective ambition to achieve a better management of the lifecycle of plastic.” MT www.carbios.fr Covestro develops composite concept with kenaf fibres For Toyota Motor Corporation's new "LQ" electric concept car, its car component manufacturer, Toyota Boshoku Corporation, selected Covestro as its partner for the joint development of a new, particularly lightweight polyurethane composite material reinforced with natural kenaf fibres. Based on its innovation leadership, Covestro was chosen as partner for jointly developing a new polyurethane composite material for the new Toyota electric concept car. The material is based on a combination of Covestro's advanced Baypreg F NF technology and Toyota Boshoku's expertise in using kenaf fibers, and offers a lightweight and sustainable solution. In the “LQ”, the new product is used in door trims: a world first in a car model from this manufacturer. MT www.covestro.com Starbucks trialling new prototype BioPBS cup Founded by Starbucks and McDonalds, the NextGen Consortium is a multi-year, global consortium that aims to address the global issue of single-use food packaging waste by advancing the design, commercialization, and recovery of food packaging alternatives. NextGen Cup is the first initiative by the NextGen Consortium, which aims to advance recoverable solutions for the fibre, hot and cold, to-go cup system. To that end, the consortium launched the NextGen Cup Challenge in 2018, an open, global design competition, that received nearly 500 submissions. Rigorous winnowing by the jury narrowed these down to 12 winners. Starbucks is now putting one of the twelve winners of the NextGen Cup Challenge to the test. The BioPBS cup, submitted by Thailand-based PTT MCC Biochem Company, has been in circulation in select stores in Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, New York and London since 9 March 2019. The cup, which is being tested in the stores for a limited time, features an innovative cup liner, made from the bioplastic bio- PBS, which makes the cup certified compostable and recyclable. The tests are designed to provide key insights and learnings into the partner and customer in-store experience with the goal of no noticeable differences in performance between the new cup and current cup. The testing does not end there. Starbucks is currently working with Closed Loop Partners, the Consortium and other businesses on continuing to test and validate the recyclability of the various challenge winners, including the BioPBS cup. The company is also continuing the work with key stakeholders in the recycling industry to advocate for increasing the overall recyclability of cups and ensure they are ultimately accepted within municipalities.MT tinyurl.com/stb-mcd 6 bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/20] Vol. 15

daily upated news at www.bioplasticsmagazine.com News EUBP: No circular economy without bioeconomy “European Bioplastics (EUBP) welcomes the new Circular Economy Action Plan (nCEAP). It’s an ambitious step forward to transform Europe into a circular economy,” said François de Bie, Chairman of European Bioplastics. “As EUBP, we especially endorse the European Commission’s commitment to support the sustainable and circular bioabsed sector through the implementation of the Bioeconomy Action Plan,” he added. “We have long been criticizing the rather artificial separation of the circular economy and the bioabsed economy. These two, however, are very much interlinked, and we are happy to see that this seems to have finally been understood.” As to on-going and planned initiatives regarding plastics, notably with a focus on packaging, EUBP would, however, prefer a more differentiated approach from the Commission. “While we certainly support measures to reduce (over)packaging and packaging waste as well as the drive to design packaging for re-use and recyclability, a mere focus on mechanical recycling and on introducing quotas for the use of recyclates is jumping to short,” said de Bie. “This is particularly the case when it comes to food contact materials.” According to EUBP, the announced establishment of rules for the safe recycling of plastic materials into food contact materials other than PET will not solve the health and safety issues associated with the use of recyclates. This applies in particular to the short to medium term. “There is a good reason why, today, recyclates other than PET are not admitted as food contact materials, as, currently, there is no way to guarantee the elimination of potentially hazardous legacy materials,” he noted. “Therefore, we strongly encourage the EC to support the use of sustainably sourced bioabsed virgin material for packaging requiring food contact approval. This should be reflected in, for example, the guidance on eco-modulation of EPR fees. In general, recycling of plastic packaging needs to be understood in line with the WFD Art. 3 as mechanical, chemical or organic recycling.” The EC’s commitment to assess biodegradable and compostable plastics in order to determine which applications may be beneficial to the environment, is very much supported by EUBP. “We are convinced that a thorough assessment of EN 13432 certified biodegradable and compostable plastics packaging will eventually reach the conclusion that there are quite a few applications where compostability makes perfect sense,” said de Bie. Packaging, which is prone to be highly contaminated with food waste, will not be mechanically recycled. Instead, in most cases, it will be incinerated, or even worse, landfilled. The recently published action plan aims at accelerating the transformational change required by the European Green Deal. “We see ourselves in a crucial role to help achieving the deal and the nCEAP as one of its key deliverables. The bioplastics industry is looking forward and willing to provide strong support,” de Bie concluded. MT www.european-bioplastics.org NatureWorks' Tim Goodman New Chair of BPI Board Congratulations to NatureWorks' Senior Circular Economy Manager, Tim Goodman, for his new additional role as Chair of the BPI Board. BPI (Biodegradable Products Institute) is North America's leading certifier of compostable products and packaging. Their third-party certification program ensures that products and packaging displaying the BPI logo have been independently tested and verified according to scientifically based standards for compostability, such as ASTM D 6400. “As a certification organization, one immediate need is to ensure that the certification program is running as efficiently as possible.”, Tim said in an interview. “ We have heard from a number of our members that the processing times for new certifications and re-certifications are taking longer than it should.” About upcoming challenges for BPI Tim added: “Some threats and challenges we face as an organization include composters not accepting certified products due to contamination concerns, acceptance issues at composting facilities due to National Organic Program (NOP) restrictions, concerns around toxics in compostable products, and bridging the gaps between ASTM disintegration rates and in-field disintegration rates. If we can make progress on these issues, I am convinced it will open more markets to compostable products and increase acceptance by composters of those products.” "If we can improve efficiencies in our current certification program and address the anticipated challenges, our efforts will strengthen us as an organization and help grow BPI and our industry as a whole", Tim concluded. MT Read the full interview at tinyurl.com/timgoodman bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/20] Vol. 15 7