Industrial Accelerator Act: Turning Europe's biobased ambitions into an industrial business case Key Messages: • Turn recognition into market pull measures. The IAA rightly recognises biobased plastics, polymers and chemicals as strategic lead markets, but this must be translated into concrete and timely demand-side measures that create predictable demand needed to scale up European [...]
UPM Circular Renewable Black™ is the world's first bio-based, NIR-detectable, carbon-negative* black pigment, built to end the recycling standoff around black plastic packaging. Conventional carbon black pigments block near-infrared (NIR) detection, making black items invisible to sorting systems. This has forced brands to choose between iconic black design and circularity, pushing black packaging out [...]
TripleW is transforming bioplastics production by addressing both sugar feedstock supply and post-consumer end-of-life upcycling. Historically, petrochemical refineries extracted underground crude oil to build the modern materials economy. Today, conventional PLA production relies on virgin food crops like corn and sugarcane. TripleW rewrites this narrative by treating organic food waste as the new petroleum [...]
Sustainea's Bio-MEG is produced through a one-step catalytic process that converts corn-derived dextrose directly into a bio-based monoethylene glycol chemically identical to its fossil counterpart. Validated across thousands of operating hours at demonstration scale, the process has been engineered for high yield and selectivity. A preliminary life cycle assessment projects Bio-MEG as carbon-negative on [...]
After reading about microplastics released from plastic cutting boards during use, 21-year-old Wessel Schönekerl started looking for alternatives. But every existing option came with its own disadvantages. Wooden boards require maintenance and are not dishwasher-safe, while glass boards are easy to clean but quickly dull kitchen knives. That raised a simple question: could a [...]
Algenesis Labs is a materials science and technology company founded in 2016 by three UC San Diego professors: Dr. Stephen Mayfield, Dr. Michael Burkart, and Dr. Robert Pomeroy. The company develops high-performance, bio-based, fully biodegradable polyurethanes using its patented Soleic® technology. Soleic® polyurethanes are made from renewable plant-based feedstocks, deliver a 50–65% reduction in [...]
Traditional plastic labels and noncompostable adhesives contaminate organic waste streams, hindering composting efforts and creating microplastic pollution. The TÜV DIN certified Home Compostable label stock made of Clarifoil® Cellulosic BioWhite Film and BioTAK® HC700 adhesive directly solves this problem, ensuring that labeled produce can be composted without having to remove the label, a process [...]
Open the document The transition from a fossil-based to a renewable, biobased economy is of essential importance if the European Union wants to achieve its goal set in the European Green Deal to become climate neutral by 2050. This transition requires the collaboration of the materials and manufactured products sectors, and, in particular, the [...]
Open the document Home composting is a private gardening practice that empowers individuals to transform their kitchen and garden waste into compost for personal use. This not only enriches their gardens but also plays a valuable role in reducing organic waste in residual waste streams. It’s important to consider the home compostability of [...]
Berlin, 6 May 2025 – The new Horizon Europe-funded GRECO project provides innovative biobased, biodegradable and recyclable food packaging based on novel PLA copolymers, functional coatings, additives and green catalysts. GRECO aims to demonstrate the life cycle and techno-economic feasibility of greener and safer bioplastics value chains for the food packaging sector, based on [...]
