News daily updated News at www.bioplasticsmagazine.com Total Corbion PLA enters engineering stage Total Corbion PLA, a 50/50 joint venture between Total and Corbion, confirms that it has kicked off the frontend engineering design stage for its new 100,000 tonnes per annum PLA plant in Grandpuits, France. The plant, due to be operational in 2024, will be the first of its kind in Europe. It would make Total Corbion PLA the global market leader in PLA, firmly positioned to cater for the rapidly growing demand for Luminy ® PLA resins. Total Corbion PLA awarded the front-end engineering design contract to NextChem (Rome, Italy), a subsidiary of Maire Tecnimont S.p.A.. Maire Tecnimont's heritage in the polymerization of traditional plastics combined with NextChem's portfolio of innovative solutions for green chemistry ensures the necessary know-how to manage this industrial initiative. Thomas Philipon, CEO of Total Corbion PLA, is pleased to launch this next stage in the process: "Signing this contract with NextChem is an important milestone as it reinforces our commitment to the global bioplastic market as the first company to launch commercial scale lactic acid to PLA capability in Europe. We are proud to enable our customers to propose sizeable solutions to the market and support the circular economy development.” Pierroberto Folgiero, Maire Tecnimont Group and NextChem CEO, commented: "This award is a confirmation that our Group is a trusted and valued technological and engineering partner for large-scale, innovative and complex projects. We are proud to work with a joint venture of our long-time client Total to increase the availability of sustainable plastics in Europe.” Luminy PLA resins are biobased and made from annually renewable resources, offering a reduced carbon footprint versus many traditional plastics. At the end of its useful life, PLA products can be mechanically or chemically recycled. The biodegradable and compostable functionalities of PLA make it the material of choice for a wide range of markets and applications including fresh fruit packaging, food service ware, durable consumer goods, toys and 3D printing. MT www.total-corbion.com New bioplastics player in Russia PLAnt SPACE is a newly established company that intends to produce biodegradable sustainable materials in Russia by the end of 2023. Currently, it has started an engineering design process for the production of PLA in a total production capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year. The plant will be in the Tula region, Special Economic Zone. With this investment, PLAnt Space is going to become the first and only operation for biobased and biodegradable plastics in Eastern Europe with its location in Russia. “We have come to understand how important bioplastics are these days. We consider ourselves responsible for a healthy natural environment and plan to set ambitious goals although it is never easy for a new entrant", says Andrey Krushinsky, CEO of PLAnt Space. "We have a great team of like-minded people which persistently moves step by step to successfully achieve our goals and make a positive contribution to the world. There is no doubt we will become a notable player in the bioplastics market industry by 2030.” MT www.plantspacellc.com New US Composting Infrastructure Coalition In early May, US stakeholders from the organics recycling and sustainable materials communities launched the U.S. Composting Infrastructure Coalition to support innovative and responsible waste reduction and recovery solutions like composting. The Coalition believes composting serves as an opportunity to address key environmental challenges and deliver positive economic impacts to people and communities. The Coalition advocates for policies, legislation, and other measures to expand composting programs and increase access to robust programs that divert food waste, yard trimmings, and certified compostable packaging. Investment in composting infrastructure will benefit the economy, the environment, and rural and urban communities. Increased access to composting serves as a cost-saving measure to divert food scraps and other organic materials away from landfilling and incineration, which predominantly impact low-income communities and especially communities of color. Composting also helps address our climate crisis by diverting organic matter from landfills, where it can create significant methane emissions. Compost benefits soil health and green infrastructure through improving water retention, among other benefits. Community scale composting helps foster neighborhood green spaces and supports local jobs and local, healthy food production. MT https://compostinfrastructure.com 6 bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/21] Vol. 16
Origin Materials and Packaging Matters collaborate Origin Materials (West Sacramento, CA, USA), and Packaging Matters, recently announced an agreement to develop advanced packaging solutions, including a nextgeneration polymer, polyethylene furanoate, aka PEF. Packaging Matters had previously entered into a supply agreement to purchase sustainable carbon-negative PET from Origin Materials to create next-generation packaging. The partnership represents a potential breakthrough in the commercialization of PEF, a polymer with an attractive combination of performance characteristics for packaging, including enhanced barrier properties, degradability, and other qualities. Origin Materials’ technology platform is expected to produce sustainable carbonnegative FDCA, the precursor to PEF, cost-competitively, and the partnership aims to enable Packaging Matters to be firstmover to bring the novel product to its customers. Furthermore, this development work for PEF is intended to facilitate the creation of additional novel polymers with performance characteristics that meet the needs of consumers and Packaging Matters’ customers, while delivering new types of packaging for today’s decarbonizing economy. Many of today’s clothing, carpets, automotive parts, and other products are made from chemicals and plastics derived from petroleum. During petroleum extraction and processing, greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming and climate change. Origin Materials’ technology platform, which is based on sustainable wood residues, can supply molecularly identical replacements for many of these materials normally sourced from petroleum, but with the expected effect of removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere rather than adding more. In the initial phase of the partnership, Origin Materials will supply sustainable carbonnegative PET to Packaging Matters. As the companies make progress on developing suitable PEF applications, some or potentially all of the supply will transition to sustainable PEF with an expected carbon-negative footprint. Origin Materials’ sustainable carbon-negative PET is physically and chemically identical to petroleum-based PET, making it equally recyclable within the existing recycling infrastructure with no disruption to recycling streams or special sorting or collection requirements. Packaging Matters intends to use the sustainable carbonnegative PET from Origin Materials in its facility in Visalia, CA, to manufacture packaging products for its fresh fruits, vegetables, and salads customers. MT generic photo:ready made / Pexels www.originmaterials.com | www.packagingmatters.com News daily updated News at www.bioplasticsmagazine.com First PHA home compostable packaging film EarthFirst Films by PSI, a global bioplastic film technology and manufacturing company, announced in an 18 May statement the successful completion of the first commercial run of PHA home compostable packaging film. Although the PHA materials have been certified, the film will go through biodegradation and home compostability screening prior to full certification. Made from Danimer Scientific’s Nodax PHA, the new film is designed for a wide range of applications across food, beverage, grocery retail, quick service restaurant, stadium foodservice, and many other consumer packaged goods (CPG) and industrial segments. “This is the first in a lineup of new advanced solutions in home compostable films we’ll launch in the next 12-18 months," said George Thomas, CEO of EarthFirst Films by PSI. “We are extremely excited to add PHA to our EarthFirst biopolymer films portfolio. We appreciate the support we received from Danimer in making this a success.” “Home Compostable films are a catalyst for greater expansion of End-of-Life (EOL) options for flexible packaging,” added Chris Schaefer, Global Marketing Director. “We’re committed to helping brands lower their packaging carbon footprint in response to consumer requests.” PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates) are polyesters biosynthesized by a bacterium fed by inexpensive oils derived from the seeds of plants such as canola and soy. Danimer Scientific’s Nodax PHA is custom formulated to create different types of plastic resins for a wide variety of uses. EarthFirst Films by Plastic Suppliers (PSI) is a global manufacturer of biopolymer EarthFirst thin gauge, compostable, sealant, and barrier sealant films within food, beverage, quick-serve restaurants, and other consumers packaged goods and industrial market segments. With offices in Columbus, Ohio (PSI) and Ghent, Belgium (Sidaplax) the company serves 50 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Sidaplax is a subsidiary of PSI. MT www.plasticsuppliers.com bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/21] Vol. 16 7
