FOR AN ECO-SENSITIVE PACKAGING Since today’s society requires environmentally friendly packaging, Semco, a Packaging Company based in Monaco, has developed its business towards an eco-responsible approach. Beyond basic standards, Semco’s goal is also to support, guide and advise its clients on how to minimize the environmental impact of the products and to protect our natural resources. In collaboration with the Green PE producer Braskem and the supplier FKuR, Semco has successfully realized an alternative to conventional plastic raw materials. Most of Semco’s range of standard bottles and jars are now available in Green PE: up to 100 % renewable and completely recyclable.
Editorial dear readers Wow, it’s been a busy spring. It started with an outing to Orlando, Florida, where NatureWorks was organizing its successful Innovation Takes Root conference for the fifth time (pp 12). Among the many amazing people we met there was Jen Owen, whose keynote speech left an indelible stamp on everyone fortunate enough to be sitting in the audience. Impressive and heart-warming, the story of how Jen and her husband Ivan are making a difference to the lives of disabled children around the world is not to be missed. Read all about it in our cover story on page 14. Later that month, I was travelling again, this time to Shanghai for Chinaplas, where again exhibiting bioplastics companies were displaying their latest developments in a specially dedicated Bioplastics Zone (p 24). The good news? While a number of oxo-products were still on offer, my impression was that the number of companies active in this area is decreasing. A third trip took me to Nijmegen in the Netherlands. Here I learned about starch from side streams of the potato industry and its potential uses – including bioplastics (p 36). The two dedicated highlight topics in this issue are Injection Moulding and Joining Bioplastics. In the Basics section, we provide an update on PHA. A great deal has happened since our last basics article on these fascinating and versatile polyesters. Companies have disappeared and new ones have entered the stage. And whereas in the past, we focused our attention on feedstocks (besides starch, sugar or plant oils) such as tobacco, switchgrass or sewage, these days it’s Methane and CO 2 that are being touted as the most promising raw materials for PHA. Read Jan Ravenstijn’s article on page 38. Just days before this issue went to print, we hosted the fourth edition of our PLA World Congress in Munich (p 9), which was a very successful event from all perspectives. And we are already focussing on the next big event this year: The K-Show in October in Düsseldorf, Germany with our 3 rd Bioplastics Business Breakfast. The call for papers is open. We are looking forward to your contributions. We hope to see you at the K-Show this autumn, or perhaps elsewhere even earlier, and until then, enjoy the summer – and of course, have a great time reading bioplastics MAGAZINE. bioplastics MAGAZINE Vol. 11 ISSN 1862-5258 Jen Owen: 3D printed hands change the world | 14 ... is read in 92 countries May/June 03 | 2016 Basics PHA (update) | 38 Highlights Injection Moulding | 16 Joining of Bioplastics | 34 Follow us on twitter! www.twitter.com/bioplasticsmag Sincerely yours Michael Thielen Like us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/bioplasticsmagazine bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/16] Vol. 11 3
