News daily upated news at www.bioplasticsmagazine.com NatureWorks announces additional lactide monomer purification technology NatureWorks (Minnetonka, Minnessota, USA), the world’s leading manufacturer of PLA biomaterials, announced a slate of manufacturing technology projects, including lactide monomer purification efficiency, that will increase the availability of the full Ingeo (PLA) biomaterials portfolio by 10 %. Installation is currently underway at NatureWorks’ facility in Blair, Nebraska, the world’s first and largest commercial-scale PLA manufacturing plant. The projects will be completed by the end of 2021. The expanded availability will support growth in markets that demand sustainable, low-carbon materials and require the high-performance attributes that Ingeo is uniquely suited to deliver. These markets include 3D printing and nonwoven hygiene masks as well as compostable coffee capsules, teabags, and coatedpaper food serviceware. “The market continues to rapidly evolve due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the undiminished demand for sustainable, bio-based alternatives to petrochemicalbased plastics,” said Rich Altice, President & CEO of NatureWorks. “For NatureWorks to satisfy this unprecedented demand, this purification technology is one of many additional capital improvements we are actively working on at our facility in Blair. At the same time, we continue to pursue a potential future second manufacturing site outside the U.S. to serve our growing international markets.” The additional annually renewable feedstock sourced to supply the new manufacturing projects will become certified by the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification System (ISCC) to the ISCC PLUS standard of best practices in agricultural production by 2025. As part of NatureWorks’ participation in the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and commitment to sustainable agriculture, they announced a new initiative in 2019 to ensure that by 2020 100 % of the agricultural feedstock used for Ingeo made at their Blair, Nebraska production site will be certified as environmentally and socially sustainable by the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification System (ISCC). By 2025, NatureWorks also committed that 100 % of new feedstocks for additional manufacturing capacity will be certified as sustainably and responsibly managed via an independent third-party administered program. NatureWorks was the first biopolymer manufacturer to become certified to the new ISCC PLUS standard in 2012, and currently has more than 60 % of its agricultural feedstock certified. MT www.natureworksllc.com ERRATUM bioplastics MAGAZINE sincerely apologizes. In the printed version of issue 04/2020 we mixed up information from two press releases. Covestro's Macrofol EC has nothing to do with the development of sustainable polycarbonates by Covestro and Neste. You find the corrected version on page 43 in the online-version of the magazine at tinyurl.com/bM202004 or directly at tinyurl.com/bM202004-43 Borealis launches portfolio of circular, premium polyolefins Borealis announced the launch of the Bornewables, a new portfolio of circular polyolefin products. Produced with renewable feedstock derived entirely from waste and residue streams, these premium polyolefins offer the same material performance as virgin polyolefins, yet with a reduced carbon footprint. In March of this year, for example, Borealis began producing polypropylene based on renewably-sourced feedstocks, such as Neste-produced renewable propane, at its Belgian facilities in Kallo and Beringen. Unlike renewable feedstocks produced with agricultural crops grown for food and livestock feed, the Bornewables are made of renewably-sourced feedstocks derived solely from waste and residue streams: from vegetable oil production as well as oil waste and residues; the timber industry; the food industry – for instance, used cooking oil. From a sustainability perspective, re-using waste to manufacture renewable feedstocks further enhances the Bornewables appeal. The entire Bornewables portfolio has been ISCC Plus (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification) certified. This certification system ensures the traceability of the renewable, sustainably produced feedstock from its point of origin through the entire chain of custody (mass balance approach).MT www.borealisgroup.com 6 bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/20] Vol. 15
daily upated news at www.bioplasticsmagazine.com News Newlight Technologies opens new commercialscale PHB production facility Newlight Technologies, Inc., a California biotechnology company that manufactures PHB, a type of PHA, has announced the opening of a new commercial-scale AirCarbon production facility in Southern California, called Eagle 3. Newlight has spent over a decade perfecting the production of AirCarbon: a material made by life from the ocean using air and carbon from greenhouse gas. To make AirCarbon, Newlight uses naturally-occurring microorganisms found in the ocean, and recreates ocean conditions on land with saltwater, air, carbon from greenhouse gas, and renewable power. These ocean microorganisms use air and carbon from greenhouse gas to grow a material inside of their cells: an ocean-degradable, carbon-negative material called AirCarbon, which can replace conventional petro-based polymers in numerous applications. Based in Huntington Beach, California, Eagle 3 is Newlight’s largest commercial production facility to date. The material produced at the facility will be used in the two new brands which the company has also just launched: Restore foodware (highperformance, regenerative foodware) and Covalent fashion (a direct-to-consumer fashion brand). Covalent shares the carbon footprint of every product, verified through LCAs by a third-party carbon accounting firm. Covalent has also developed a ‘Carbon Date’ – a unique timestamp placed on every Covalent product that reveals the time when the AirCarbon for each product was formed. When entered into the Covalent website, the Carbon Date enables the consumer to access IBM blockchain history for that exact piece, showing each stage from cradle-to-gate, and the carbon footprint associated with the overall production process. Covalent’s mission is to help demonstrate the beauty in greenhouse gas and inspire the use of carbon from greenhouse gas as a resource to help end climate change. Both products, Restore foodware and Covalent fashion, are made in Southern California, and are available at from the website, with shipping estimated to be begin in Q4. Read a more comphehensove news at bioplastics MAGAZINE's news-website (inyurl.com/newlight-news) MT www.restorefoodware.com | www.covalentfashion.com | www.newlight.com DIN CERTCO cutting the edge: DINplus Biowaste Bags Since the German Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act (KrWG) came into effect, every household in Germany must be connected to a bio-waste collection facility, as the expected approx. 5 million tonnes of bio-waste per year would otherwise not be returned to or removed from the value chain. The substances allowed for disposal in the organic waste bin are regulated by the German Biowaste Ordinance (BioAbfV), which is currently being revised. Consumers, trade and disposal companies, NGOs, local authorities and manufacturers have been collectively discussing for some time about bio-waste bags, which are approved under the BioAbfV for the collection of e.g. kitchen and canteen waste and regulated by EN 13432. This standard specifies a maximum residence time of 12 weeks in compost, however the actual composting plants usually allow for shorter rotting times. DIN Certco is certifying compostable products according to EN 13432 for more than 20 years and is the competent contact point for certification. In order to reflect these shorter rotting times, DIN Certco has developed a certification system at the cutting edge of technology that requires a maximum rotting time of 6 weeks for the complete composting: "DINplus Biowaste Bags". In the process, bio-waste bags that have already been certified or not are subjected to renewed testing with a maximum composting time of 6 weeks. If all requirements of EN 13432 and the 6-week test are fulfilled, bio-waste bags are marked with the "DINplus Biowaste Bags" mark: This certification mark makes it possible to trace approved bio-waste bags throughout the chain from trade to consumer all the way to the waste management companies to thereby reflect the current state of the art. MT tinyurl.com/din-plus-biowastebags bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/20] Vol. 15 7
