In order to achieve the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal, respectively the Circular Economy Action Plan, the European Commission already initiated a significant number of regulatory processes. To improve Europe’s waste management in line with the waste hierarchy and the implementation of the polluter principle, the Commission had initiated a Call for [...]
BioSupPack project supported by EUBP The EU-funded BioSupPack project, supported by European Bioplastics (EUBP), is geared towards contributing to the European bio-based circular economy by developing polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)-based packaging solutions derived from residues. It is a viable recycling process for these bio-based plastic materials to make sure resources stay in the loop. [...]
Contrary to popular belief, certified, industrial compostable organic waste bags neither bear harm for soil or human health, nor do they contribute to the problem of microplastics, as experts underline. On the contrary, they convey chances for a higher quality and quantity of collected organic waste. Read in the following a guest commentary by the Verbund kompostierbare Produkte e.V. (Association for Compostable Products / “Verbund”). For many years now, the [...]
On 8 February, the European Parliament adopted its Own Initiative Report on the Circular Economy which recognised the role of bioplastics for the future. Amongst other issues highlighted, the MEPs emphasised the potential role of bio-based and biodegradable and compostable plastics in the circular economy whilst noting that bio-based and/or biodegradable plastics alone will not provide a solution to the environmental concerns related to plastics. [...]
For quite some time now, the European Commission (EC) is putting a special focus on biodegradable and compostable polymers when assessing the general role of bioplastics. This becomes obvious when looking at the number of related EU studies and reports that had been published in 2020. The last publication in this regard was the [...]
Corbion to expand lactic acid production capacity in North America Recently, Corbion announced that it is planning to expand its lactic acid capacity at its manufacturing facility in Blair, Nebraska by around 40%. Lactic acid can be used for the production of polylactic acid (PLA). The demand for PLA on the markets remains high, [...]
Yum China launches plastic reduction and sustainable packaging initiatives Yum, the operator of fast-food chain KFC and restaurant brand Pizza Hut announced new environmentally friendly packaging initiatives that are expected to reduce its amount of non-degradable plastics by approximately 8,000 tonnes annually starting this year. Some of the initiatives include replacing existing plastic packaging [...]
Source: Novamont A report recently published by the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC) and Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) shows that with only 16% of the biowaste potential being used, the biowaste management still remains an untapped potential for the European Union to further transition to a Circular Economy. Both organizations jointly produced a [...]
In the course of implementing the European Strategy for Plastics, so far, the European Commission (EC) initiated a remarkable number of research studies. The recently published study on the ‘Relevance of biodegradable and compostable plastic products in a circular economy’ ranks amongst the most important ones for the bioplastics industry. It aims at contributing [...]
A recent study by Wageningen University & Research (WUR), Netherlands, analysed the fate of compostable packaging products in a Dutch full-scale industrial organic waste treatment facility. The independent research results confirm what producers of biodegradable and compostable plastics have been saying for a long time. The different tested EN13432 certified products broke down within [...]
