dear Editorial readers Alex Thielen, Michael Thielen, Sam Brangenberg These days the world is shaken by news from Canada about temperatures around 50°C or severe floods coming from heavy rain in Germany, Belgium, and the south of the Netherlands, just a few kilometres from our offices. The water masses killed more than 170 people, with more than a dozen villages partly or fully extinct. Our thoughts are with the victims. The Paris Climate Agreement COP21 limits the increase of the average temperatures to 1.5°C but we already are at 1.2°C. At this rate, it is silly to say that the big polluters should start reducing their CO 2 emissions first because we small players can’t do much about it by ourselves. The truth is, every tenth of a tonne of saved CO 2 counts and with more than 370 million tonnes of new fossil-based plastics every year (representing about a billion tonnes CO 2eq ), each tonne of plastics made from renewable carbon contributes to the overall target. It’s the older kids around Greta Thunberg and the Fridays for future movement that clearly tell us what their concerns for their future are. And they are joined by young parents who care for their small children. This leads us to our first highlight – Toys and what is being done to make them more sustainable. This issue of bioplastics MAGAZINE is full of toys made from renewable carbon plastics, but it is a mere teaser for what is to come later this year. Starting with some Toy News and a number of interesting articles about toys, we look forward to our second bio!TOY conference in Nuremberg, Germany on 7+8 September. We are still optimistic to hold the event on-site with additional online options for both, speakers and attendees. And there are more events to come with the 2 nd PHA platform World Congress just a few weeks later in Cologne, Germany and the 4 th bio!PAC in Düsseldorf, Germany, in early November – both are planned as hybrid events a well. The second highlight in this issue is Thermoforming and in the Basics section we have a closer look at biobased polypropylene. As always, we’ve rounded up some of the most recent news items on materials and applications to keep you abreast of the latest innovations and ongoing advances in the world of plastics made from Renewable Carbon. We are looking forward to meeting many of you in person this fall and, as always, hope you enjoy reading bioplastics MAGAZINE Yours bioplastics MAGAZINE Vol. 16 Bioplastics - CO 2 -based Plastics - Advanced Recycling Cover Story Great River: Sustainable and Sophisticated PLA Cups & Lids | 22 Highlights Thermoforming | 23 Toys | 10 Basics Bio-PP | 54 ... is read in 92 countries Follow us on twitter! www.twitter.com/bioplasticsmag ... is read in 92 countries Like us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/bioplasticsmagazine https://www.shutterstock. com/de/image-photo/happyyoung-brunette-womantakeout-coffee-1416104513 04 / 2021 ISSN 1862-5258 Jul / Aug Michael Thielen bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/21] Vol. 16 3
