• Open call for Bioplastics Award 2016: Like every year, the winner of the Global Bioplastics Award will be announced at the 11th European Bioplastics Conference in November 2016 in Berlin. The award ceremony is hosted by the bioplastics MAGAZINE and recognises innovations and great achievements by manufacturers, processors, brand owners, or users of bioplastics materials. Entries can still be submitted until 31 August 2016. For more information and to submit your proposal, simply fill out this form.

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  • DuPont Industrial Biosciences designs uniforms for Chinese Olympic team: DuPont Industrial Biosciences collaborated with Chinese sports brand Anta to design the Chinese Olympic team’s “Dragon Uniform” for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The uniforms will be made from DuPont™ Sorona®, a sustainable, patented fiber made with renewable, plant-based content, which is uniquely soft, durable and has excellent stretch and recovery properties.
  • Standford and IBM develop new catalyst for biodegradable plastics: Researchers at Stanford and IBM report the development of new chemical approaches that could efficiently and inexpensively generate biodegradable plastics. The researchers crafted an alternative catalyst to the standard metal-based catalysts that is made from organic compounds by reacting the common chemical ingredients thiourea with a metal alkoxide. The result is a catalyst that is both fast and selective, meaning that it excels at accelerating and facilitating reactions and that it doesn’t alter the resulting polymer’s shape or properties once it is formed.
  • New partners for BioQED project: The BIO-QED project aims at opening new industrial routes for the production of important chemicals (1,4-butanediol and itaconic acid) from renewable sources rather than traditional petrochemical sources. The project now got extra backing from two new partners Itaconix and VLCI that are involved in the development of latex polymers from alkyl itaconates and other formulations derived from 1st and 2nd generation feedstocks made available within the project consortium. The consortium involves 12 partners from 7 countries and receives funding from the European Community‘s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).