2007-02

bioplastics

magazine

Vol. 2

ISSN 1862-5258

02 | 2007

Special editorial Focus: Bottles, Labels, Caps | 10

Bioplastics vs. agricultural land | 36 Logos, Part 4 | 38

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Editorial

dear readers Some 15 years ago, when the PET bottle really started to take off, the arguments in its favour were obvious. Compared to glass, the plastic bottles are lightweight, unbreakable and easy to carry because of their neck-ring. PET also has certain environmental advantages too - the lower weight reduces diesel consumption during transport, and PET melts at a temperature significantly lower than glass, so using less energy when bottles are initially produced and recycled.

And now one more point can be added to the list of arguments in favour of plastic bottles. PLA, as an alternative plastic, is made from renewable resources - mainly starch derived from corn, sugar cane, sugar beet or even sweet potatoes. Not only is PLA made from products that can be relatively easily grown and therefore readily renewable, but after its initial use it can be recycled, composted under certain conditions, or cleanly incinerated with energy recovery.

Those interested to learn more about PLA for bottles, bioplastic labels and caps, or who wish to discuss barrier issues, end of life options and many more detailed aspects than are covered in this issue, are cordially invited to the 1st PLA Bottle Conference organised by bioplastics MAGAZINE. We are running the two-day conference on the 12th and 13th of September in Hamburg, Germany. Please visit our website for details.

ISSN 1862-5258

A number of beverage and dairy companies are evaluating the use of this rather new material, or already use PLA for bottle applications.

The special editorial focus in this issue of bioplastics MAGAZINE is on bottle applications, including the use of bio-sourced and biodegradable labels and caps. We talked to five of the early pioneers that now use PLA for their bottles, and asked them about their motivation, their experiences and their future plans. All five still consider the decision to go for PLA as the right one.

: Special editorial Focus | 10 Bottles, Labels, Caps

02 | 2007

MAGAZINE

Publisher

bioplastics

Michael Thielen

Vol. 2

And in this, our fourth issue, you’ll also find more of the latest bioplastics news, updates on materials, processing, events and much more – and not only about bottles!

al land | 36 Bioplastics vs. agricultur Logos, Part 4 | 38

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

03

Applications

05 Shrink sleeves 24

43 Non-wovens made from PLA 26

45 Mulch films made from PLA blends 28

Novel nanostructured polylactides 32

Protein-based plastics 34

Bioplastics vs. agricultural land 36

Logos Part 4: The Scandinavian „apples“ 38

Glossary 40

PLA hot topic at PETnology Forum

bioplastics MAGAZINE tries to use British spelling. However, in articles based on information from the USA, American spelling may also be used.

What’s happening in the New World?

The fact that product names may not be identified in our editorial as trade marks is not an indication that such names are not registered trade marks.

Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher

bioplastics MAGAZINE is read in 80 countries.

bioplastics magazine is published 4 times in 2007 and 6 times a year from 2008.

This publication is sent to qualified subscribers (149 Euro for 6 issues).

bioplastics magazine ISSN 1862-5258

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Five PLA bottle pioneers

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June 02|2007 Politics 30

From Science & Research

Basics

Review

42

Special

Processing

News

New bioplastic bottles with pearl-lustre effect Biopearls R.O.J. Jongboom Holding B.V. from Zetten, The Netherlands is a company specialized on tailormade bioplastics injection moulding compounds. Remy Jongboom, Direktor of Biopearls now introduced bioplastics bottles with a pearllustre effect. The bottles are stretch blow moulded from preforms made of a material that is based on PLA. “In a cooperation with the Technical University of Eindhoven, The Netherlands, we could test the processing of a new formulation of Biopearlscompounds,“ says Remy. “We extruded some sort of tapes and found out, that, when stretched, the mechanical properties of the tapes were significantly increased.“ In cooperation with a company that makes preforms and PET bottles Remy Jongboom manufactured the first preforms and 0.5 Litre bottles with the new Biopearls compound. These bottles had such a good quality and beautiful appearance that not long after the first customers asked Biopearls B.V. for the supply of his new pearl-lustre effect bottles. The material is a blend of PLA and other bioplastics materials that is not as brittle as pure PLA, so that the bottles feature a certain soft touch effect. The majority of the mix is based on renewable resources, as Remy puts it. “And not only is the bottle made of this Biopearls compound, the cap is injection moulded from a similar material with a slightly different elasticity for a good seal.“ Ideal applications are the cosmetics and healthcare sector, as Remy points out, especially for those neat little bottles you find in hotel rooms.

Other customer requests target applications such as paraffin oil (lamp oil).

Metabolix and AMD announce brand name MirelTM and publish an amazing Internet survey Metabolix, Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) headquartered in Decatour, Illinois, USA, announced that they have named their Joint venture TellesTM, after the Roman goddess of the Earth. Telles is now building its first commercial scale plant for the production of PHA in Clinton, Iowa, USA. This plant is expected to start up in 2008 and will produce the corn-based polyhydroxyalkanoate at an annual rate of about 50,000 tons.

The family of high performance natural plastics that are biobased, sustainable and completely biodegradable, as the company states, will be marketed and sold under the brand name Mirel™ Natural Plastics.

Internet survey In April of 2007 the US online market research firm InsightExpress conducted a USA-wide online survey for Telles: Here are some of the results in brief, detailed results and their interpretation can be found at www.metabolix.com.

1. 72% of respondents do not know that plastic is made out of crude oil/petroleum.

2. On average, respondents estimated 38% of plastic material is recycled (the reality is less than 6%, according to the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)).

3. Nearly 40% (38.1%) of respondents said plastic will biodegrade under ground, in home compost, in landfills, or in the ocean (plastic will not biodegrade in any of these environments).

4. After learning that plastic is made from oil and never biodegrades, half (50.1%) of respondents stated they would be likely or very likely to pay 5-10% more for a natural, biodegradable plastic. Only 24% were unlikely/very unlikely to pay this much more.

“Everyone knows about the reliance on oil and the impact that petroleum use has on climate change,“ said Jim Barber, President and CEO of Metabolix. “Similarly, people see a lot of plastic waste in the form of litter. But the fact that so many people are unaware that plastic is made from oil and that it will persist in the environment for thousands of years, shows the need for education about the impact of plastic on the environment and the various alternatives made from renewable resources.“

www.biopearls.nl

www.metabolix.com www.admworld.com

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

PLA bottle is used for a Noble cause Demonstrating its fresh thinking, Blue Lake Citrus Products, LLC, Winter Haven, Florida, USA, has become the first company to offer all-natural and organic juice beverages in bottles made from NatureWorksTM PLA . Explains Blue Lake president Wade J. Groetsch, the company selected the bio-based resin from NatureWorks for the material’s eco-friendly advantages. “We are always researching new ways to reduce packaging waste and energy in the production of packaging products such as our new bottle,” he says.

Since last September, Blue Lake has offered its lines of Noble All Natural and Noble Organics premium juices in a clear, 32-oz PLA bottle molded by Consolidated Container Corp. using an existing, custom mold. Dubbed the “E bottle”

by Blue Lake, the package provides a clarity comparable to the company’s previous polyethylene terephthalate bottle, as well as a sufficient oxygen barrier for the products’ 60day shelf life. Noble juices are cold-packed, so PLA’s lower melt index is not an issue during filling. “However, we do have to control the temperature of the transportation and warehousing of bottles,” Groetsch relates.

Based on its 2006 sales, Blue Lake estimates that the switch to PLA will save the fossil-fuel equivalent of burning 114,000 gal of gasoline and will save greenhouse-gas emissions equivalent to driving a car more than 2.7 million miles in the U.S.

www.bluelakecitrus.com www.cccllc.com

This news was previously published in Packaging Digest, Feb. 2007, © Reed Business Information

DuPont introduces PLA modifier FDA-compliant for food packaging DuPont Packaging has announced expansion of its DuPont™ Biomax® Strong family of polymer additives to include an FDA compliant grade for food contact applications. Biomax Strong polymer additives improve the performance of PLA packaging.

New Biomax Strong 120 is a polymer additive that toughens PLA packaging materials while maintaining compliance with food contact requirements in the United States (FDA), and in Europe. A similar additive was introduced in August 2006 for non-food applications. Both grades of Biomax Strong provide improved toughness performance with minimal reduction in package clarity.

“Offering a food contact compliant grade of Biomax Strong gives DuPont a way to help food marketers take better advantage of an environmentally preferred solution in packages such as clamshells used in fresh produce sections,” said Shanna Moore, global market manager for DuPont Packaging.

“We are firmly committed to developing sustainable solutions, including solutions that improve the performance of other sustainable offerings in the market,” Moore said. “By improving the performance of bio-based and biodegradable products, Biomax Strong can help the packaging industry deliver high performance at a competitive price.”

DuPont – one of the first companies to publicly establish environmental goals 16 years ago – has broadened its sustainability commitments beyond internal footprint reduction to include market-driven targets for both revenue and research and development investment. The goals are tied directly to business growth, specifically to the development of safer and environmentally improved new products for key global markets. www.dupont.com

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

Plantic raised £20 million of new funds Development project for barrier resins for plastic bottle applications Plantic Technologies Limited, from Altona, Victoria, Australia, a producer of starchbased packaging, is pleased to announce that it has raised £20 million of new funds on May 23 on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Plantic will trade under the symbol ‘PLNT’ “The new funds will enable us to expand our range of unique biodegradable plastics.

Our vision is for consumers everywhere to use Plantic-based products that play a significant role in reducing the world’s waste problem,” said Grant Dow, Managing Director and CEO of Plantic.

Plantic’s proprietary technology is based on the use of high amylose corn starch sourced from renewable resources that are not genetically modifed.

www.plantic.com.au

Bioplastics and biopackaging will be presented in a large group exhibition at interpack 2008, to be held from 24-30 April 2008 at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre. With a planned total exhibition area of 1,000 m2, the exhibition space will be more than triple the size of the interpack 2005 „Innovationparc Bioplastics in Packaging“. The organising trade association European Bioplastics is expecting more than 30 exhibiting companies and 10,000 trade visitors to attend.

The event represents a global platform to showcase the progress of the bioplastics industry. European Bioplastics is offering companies from the entire value chain the opportunity to demonstrate their state of the art technology development. This includes raw materials, products, processes and machinery.

The attractiveness for exhibitors, trade visitors and media will be further enhanced by an interesting supporting programme including podium discussions and presentations. European Bioplastics will invite politicians and industry and media representatives to discuss bioplastics in the context of the sustainable development, climate change and resource debate. Biobased and biodegradable plastics have shown a boom-like development in compostable packaging and other applications in recent years.

A worldwide comprehensive bioplastics study More than 40 plastics by 30 manufacturers Intensive material testing and data research Comparative presentation of the technical characteristics and processing properties of tested biodegradable materials Additional summary on the current international market situation for thermoplastic bio polymers In cooperation with the Institute for Recycling - Wolfsburg, Germany

bioplastics24.com...

Among others Plantic has a development agreement with Visy Industries Pty Ltd in Australia to develop barrier resins for rigid injection stretch blow moulded containers and bottles. The aim will be to use Plantic as a barrier layer within multi-layer containers (e.g. bottles and jars) for goods that require protection from oxygen ingress or carbonation loss, as in the case of carbonated beverages. This would allow existing PET bottles which require a barrier layer to be recycled without the need first to recover the barrier material which in itself is not recyclable.

Large group exhibition and stage programme announced

bioplastic study

Having developed the core formulations and initial applications, Plantic aims further to develop, commercialise and distribute Plantic® by creating additional applications across a variety of industry sectors. To that end, the company has partnered with a number of plastics and packaging companies jointly to develop, commercialise and/or market a new range of applications through its partners’ established manufacturing and distribution channels.

“Bioplastics in Packaging“ Exhibition at Interpack 2008

bioplastics24.com... … is the new information and market platform for the bioplastics industry … provides an overview over current bioplastic news and events … offers comprehensive background information on the benefits of bioplastics … comprises an industry directory and market overview

More information at www.bioplastics24.com bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

News

Potential of bioplastics – an Internet survey The German Internet portal “plasticker – the home of plastics“ asks visitors on a monthly basis for their opinion on different topical questions around plastics and the plastics industry. However this online poll is carried out in the German language only.

In May 2007 the question was about the expected potential of bioplastics:

“How will demand for and production of bioplastics develop in the coming 10 years?”

A) They will substitute most of today‘s commodity plastics

6

B) They will play a major role in many application areas

56

C) They will remain niche products

35

D) The hype, and with it the materials, will disappear

3 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Here are the results: The general attitude was one of cautious confidence. A clear majority of those responding to the survey believe that in the foreseeable future bioplastics “will play a major role in many applications“. However only 6 percent believe that bioplastics have the potential to replace today‘s mass commodity plastics.

Another significant group, accounting for about 35 percent of the replies, believes that bioplastics will not move significantly from their current position as a niche product.

Those who think that bioplastics have no real future were in a clear minority, at only 3 percent.

The online survey not only asked for the visitor‘s opinion, but also wanted to know which sector of the industry they were engaged in. Analysing the responses from this aspect also produced some very interesting results.

In a nutshell* 74 percent of the raw materials sector (which is made up of traders and distributors, manufacturers and compounders, and plastics recyclers) expect a significant increase in the share of the market taken by bioplastics. 13 percent even went so far as to say that they would ultimately hold a dominant position in the market.

This is probably because raw materials traders and manufacturers, who are sitting at the beginning of the value chain, have for longer been closely concerned with the subject than, say, most converters. They have also been forced to pay more attention to the subject of petroleum reserves.

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

Amongst the suppliers of machinery about 50 percent expect bioplastics to play a major role and 50 percent think they will remain a niche product. Almost nobody thought that bioplastics would disappear, neither would they replace most of today‘s commodities.

The biggest group, i.e the plastics processors and converters, making up 37 percent of all participants, is the most sceptical. The responses were: A:0% / B:43% / C:55% / D:2%.

This could be put down to the fact that most of them have had no practical experience with bioplastics and have not been so closely concerned with the subject. Nevertheless only 2 percent of them said that they saw no long-term future for bioplastics As this online poll was only carried out in the German language, bioplastics MAGAZINE plans to expand the survey and ask all our readers and visitors to bioplasticsmagazine.com from around the world to respond to the same questions in the English language. From the beginning of June until the end of August you can give us your opinion on this question at www.bioplasticsmagazine.com/poll bioplastics MAGAZINE will publish the results of this global survey in the next issue.

* all detailed results of the recent German poll can be reviewed at www.plasticker.com (in German and English language).

Standard products can be found anywhere, but only at K can you find real innovations – unique in variety and quality. 3,000 exhibitors from 50 countries provide a professional pool of innovation, from which you can create tailor-made solutions for your business. Be inspired – and turn your ideas into good business propositions, face-to-face with the best in the industry.

K2007 International Trade Fair No. 1 for Plastics and Rubber Worldwide

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Düsseldorf, Germany 24 – 31 Oct. 2007

Special

Five PLA bottle pioneers

A

significant number of companies have launched beverages in PLA bottles in recent years. bioplastics MAGAZINE spoke to the responsible people at five of the early pioneers in this field about their motivation, their experience and their future plans.

Motivation Being asked how they came to the idea of using PLA as a bottle material, David Zutler of BIOTA said, that as early as 1996 he was already looking for a better material. In May of 2002 he read an article in the local Telluride newspaper how plastic bottles were helping to destroy the environment of our planet. Just shortly after Cargill and Dow opened their production plant for PLA in Blair, Nebraska, USA, he and Planet FriendlyTM Products, a bioplastics consultancy firm also founded by him, contacted Cargill Dow (now NatureWorks LLC) and with the support of Cargill Dow, Husky and SIG Corpoplast they started the rollout of the World‘s First PLA preforms, bottles, and labels with the intention of “helping change the world as far as plastics is concerned,“ as David puts it.

BIOTA Brands of America, Inc. / Planet Friendly Products Telluride, Colorado, USA David M. Zutler, Founder and CEO Belu Mineral Water, London, UK Reed Paget, Co-founder and Managing Director Ihr Platz GmbH + Co. KG, Osnabrück, Germany Bernd Merzenich, former Consultant now: Managing Director of german bioplastics GmbH & Co. KG Plus One Water, Inc., Montreal, Canada Michael Keeffe, CEO Naturally Iowa, LLC, Clarinda, Iowa, USA William Horner, President

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bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

A similar idea drove Bill Horner of Naturally Iowa, when his company established the guidelines for creating a new all natural or even all organic dairy company. In October of 2005 they saw a major shift in consumer demand for organic products. “We decided to make a shift in our business plan as well, and with regard to packaging we wanted to set ourselves apart from all the others,“ says Bill, “and the only real breakthrough in plastics packaging that we could see was PLA“. Two years earlier they had contacted Cargill Dow, just an hour and a half down the road, and enjoyed the benefit of earlier experience gained with the help of BIOTA bottles.

Naturally Iowa uses Norland blow moulding equipment for their in-house production of the bottles.

London (UK) based Belu Mineral Water is an environmental initiative which contributes 100% of its net profits to clean water projects. Working with the charity WaterAid, every bottle of Belu water purchased in the UK provides someone in India or Africa with clean water for one month. About five years ago Belu contacted the Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmental organisation in the USA. “I discussed with them how to make a low impact bottle to create a more sus-

Special

tainable product,“ says Reed Paget of Belu, “and they suggested we use a sort of biopolymer“. As PLA was not ready for commercial use in those days, Belu started the launch of Belu Mineral Water with glass bottles. After the successful launch of BIOTA, Belu finally introduced in May 2006 the Belu PLA bottle, using preforms purchased from Planet Friendly Products. The bottles are blown on SIG Corpoplast stretch blow moulding machines and filled at Brecon Mineral Water in a factory located near Llandeilo in South Wales.

To set up a socially responsible water company was the idea with which Michael Keeffe of +1Water in Canada approached co-founders Paul and David Smith a few years ago. “We wanted to contribute 20% of our profits towards water development organisations like WaterCan and Ryan‘s Well Foundation in Canada and Operation Hunger in South Africa,“ says Michael. These non profit organisations help provide communities in need with access to safe, clean water. “Unlike most people living in North America and Europe, there are over one billion people in the world that do not have access to safe drinking water,“ he adds. Within a few months they found out about PLA and decided it would provide the environmentally responsible component to round out the socially responsible dimension of the product. With the technical support of NatureWorks, Krones and Ben Benedict at Iroquois Water +1Water was able to launch their PLA +1 bio-bottle last January. +1 bottles natural spring water from a family owned spring called “Bell Falls“ in Quebec.

Iroquois Water, use Krones equipment, to blow and fill the bottles for +1Water.

Bernd Merzenich (today head of german bioplastics) has acted as a consultant to different companies with regard to the production and marketing of organic food for about 25 years. In recent years he has also been keen to use bioplastics as a packaging material for organic produce. When working for the German drugstore chain “Ihr Platz“, establishing a new range of organic food products and natural cosmetics, he came across the BIOTA bottles. He found exciting the idea of using PLA as a packaging material for a pilot project of wellness beverages with a strong appeal to health and environment, which Ihr Platz was planning to introduce. When Hycail (today with Tate&Lyle) could not con-

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

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Special

tinue their initial support Bernd started to cooperate with NatureWorks, “from whom we received considerable support towards sourcing and processing the material.“ The Luxembourg based company Plastipak supplied the preforms, made on Husky equipment, to the German mineral water company Quellenhof who blow-moulded and filled the bottles for Ihr Platz .

Summing up the first part of our conversation, we can say that all of the parties interviewed consider their decision regarding the use of PLA as a material for their bottles as the right one. David Zutler: “Absolutely the right decision. Petroleum based plastics are one of the world‘s biggest problems. Just look at some of the developing countries where no recycling is in place for PET bottles and where they openly burn their overloaded landfills.“ Bill Horner: “100 percent the right decision. We are planning further products to be packaged in PLA.“ Reed Paget: “Almost any analysis shows that PLA is the most sustainable option.“ Michael Keeffe: “At this point in time we are convinced it was the right decision. We have outlets across three of the Canadian provinces here, and we are about to expand to the west coast of Canada.“ And even though Ihr Platz recently discontinued selling the Vitamore wellness drinks, Bernd Merzenich considers the use of PLA as the right decision. Bernd: “It was good to make a statement in favour of bioplastics and to be the first on the German market. However, a drugstore chain is not a food store and beverages in bottles with, at the moment, limited barrier properties need a faster turnover.“

Labels and caps How important are labels and caps from renewable resources for the companies that sell PLA bottled products?

While the Vitamore and +1Water labels are made of paper and therefore made from a renewable - and biodegradable - source, BIOTA, Belu and Naturally Iowa are already using PLA labels. +1Water is eventually planning to switch to PLA labels.

Planet friendly cap

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bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

When it comes to caps, it‘s the other way round. Ihr Platz introduced the world‘s first compostable cap, made of MaterBi which is partly sourced from renewable raw materials. BIOTA is planning to roll out what David calls a planetfriendly cap, made of 100% renewables and 100% compostable. The resin composition is mainly based on PLA. This cap will be available to other bottlers too, as David points out.

Reed says that “Belu will use a bioplastics cap as soon as we can find one that will work with our product“. Naturally Iowa is also interested in caps and “we‘ve been working with a company in Japan who‘s developing a PLA-blend that will work on closures,“ says Bill. He is confident of having one next year. +1Water will move to biobased caps, as soon as they are there,“ Michael points out.

12 - 13 September 2007

1st PLA-Bottle-Conference possibilities | limitations | prospects

powered by

PLA (Polylactide), a compostable plastic made from renewable resources such as corn, is a highly topical subject right now, especially in the light of increasing crude oil prices. The stretch blow moulded PLA bottles used by Biota or Natural Iowa (USA), Belu (UK), Vitamore (Germany) and +1water (Canada), as well as reports in the trade press, have aroused significant interest from the PET and beverage industry.

Would you like to find out more about the possibilities, limitations and future prospects of PLA for bottle applications?

That‘s exactly why bioplastics MAGAZINE is organising the 1st PLA Bottle Conference on the 12th and 13th of September 2007 in the Grand Elysee Hotel in Hamburg, Germany. This 1½ day conference offers a comprehensive overview of today‘s opportunities and challenges.

Experts from companies such as Purac, Uhde Inventa-Fischer, Natureworks, Netstal, SIG Corpoplast, Wiedmer, Treofan, Sidaplax, SIG Plasmax, Doehler, Polyone, Ihr Platz, Coca-Cola, Interseroh, and more, will share their knowledge and … …on the afternoon of Thursday September 13th delegates will visit SIG Corpoplast, the manufacturer of the stretch blow moulding equipment that is used to produce for example the Biota and the Belu bottles.

There will be sessions covering: Sponsors

 Raw materials, from corn to PLA  PLA preform manufacture  Stretch blow moulding of PLA  Caps, labels, shrink-sleeves made from biodegradable plastics  Barrier solutions for PLA bottles  Temperature stability of PLA  Additives, from processing agents to colorants  Reports „from the market“

Supported by

 End of life options, recycling, energy recovery, composting

More information and registration:

www.pla-bottle-conference.com

€ 850.00

Special

Planet FriendlyTM bottle

The cost issue “The higher price of PLA is acceptable to us and should be acceptable to everyone because the planet is worth it,“ says David Zutler. And he thinks that the majority of consumers “who care“ think so too. Eventually, David is convinced, when the economy of scale kicks in, the price of PLA will drop.

Reed Paget too believes that in the long run, the price of PLA will come down while petrochemical plastics will become more expensive. The environmental sustainability is the starting point for Belu and Reed too thinks that some consumers would accept a slightly higher price. “However, we try to be cost effective as much as we can,“ he says.

“I really think the price is dominant and I would like to say the environmental advantages would outweigh the price“, says Bill Horner. On the other hand he considers that the price of PLA today already is almost competitive with PET. “The price for PET is going higher and higher, and although we had a fight on the corn prices that was just temporary.

On a long term view the prices for starch are much more stable“, he adds.

Michael Keeffe doesn‘t feel that the price is a super-critical factor for the consumer. “As soon as it becomes clear that it is an environmentally friendly bottle, that seals the decision for most people,“ Michael explains. „We hope that the increasing demand for sugar, for example for making bio-ethanol, does not push the price of PLA up through the roof, but as of now the price for us is workable“.

“We are talking about environmentally and health conscious consumers who are willing to accept a premium price for corresponding items,“ says Bernd Merzenich. “But you really need a very clear communication strategy with these products,“ he adds. “You need to be transparent and critical, and clearly explain what is bio with these materials.“

Barrier properties and heat resistance As how important do our interview partners consider enhanced barrier properties and the heat resistance of PLA?

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bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

None of them is currently packaging products that need a container with elevated temperature resistance. However, all confirm that for certain applications such as hot-filled juices etc. enhanced thermal properties will be needed.

When it comes to barrier, the picture looks different. Reed Paget thinks that, as for other plastic materials, PLA also needs an enhanced barrier. Michael Keeffe confirms this thought, for their current product, flat water, improved barrier properties will provide greater production and distribution options. “For the long term viability of PLA for other products, such as carbonated beverages or fruit juice, we will also need a barrier against CO2 and Oxygen“.

Bernd Merzenich: “PLA definitely needs to be improved regarding its barrier properties and heat stability. For still water the presently available level of material and technology is OK, on the premise that the turnover at the point of sale is sufficiently fast. But for more sophisticated uses in the beverage and food industry we need material improvements by developing new bioplastic compounds on the basis of PLA, as well as by using additives, coatings or the like, such as, for instance, the SIG Plasmax plasma coating process or a bioplastic barrier resin for multilayer applications, which has been announced by Plantic.“ Naturally Iowa, cold filling their products, are very satisfied with the quality of the PLA they get from NatureWorks today.

Their milk is a short shelflife product and is sold through the cold chain, so that up to now better barrier or temperature properties have not been needed.

David Zutler however, is already active in this field. Together with strategic partners Danimer, and the Australian packaging and recycling group Visy, BIOTA is developing a Planet Friendly bottle, that is made of PLA plus an additive which enhances the elasticity properties, and will help provide some additional properties as well. “Our goal is to have such a bottle within the next six months, and in addition to that, to have a bottle material with barrier properties even for use with CSD (carbonated soft drinks) and resistant to water vapour, heat, and O2 ingress within a year,“ says David.

Special

End-of-life options There has to be a way for consumers, and recyclers to easily tell the difference between biobased products and petroleum based products. “All our bottles say Planet Friendly™. When the consumer, and recycler, see those words, they know what they are,“ says David. “My number one end-of-life option is what I would call reclaiming,“ he adds. „Reuse or recycle to bottles or into other products such as garden pots etc. And my second favourite is energy recovery. PLA burns cleanly and can help augment the use of fossil fuels (petroleum, coal, etc.) in power plants, helping to generate greenhouse neutral energy and alleviate the devastating problem of burning plastics in landfills.“ Reuse and recycle are also the preferred end-of-life options for Reed Paget, making up the top four together with composting/energy recovery, and with landfill as the last option. Belu is currently working on life cycle assessments and even home composting seems to be a viable option instead of shipping the waste across town to a waste facility. “I did it myself in my backyard,“ says Reed, “and if you know how to do it, it works.“ “Our +1 bio-bottle is clearly stamped both with the number seven recycling logo as well as the word ‚compostable‘ informing consumers that they have disposal options, says Michael Keeffe. +1Water is working (with a number of recyclers) on a pilot project with a company called “Turtle Island Recycling“ in Ontario focused on both bioplastics recycling and composting. And when, after reuse or recycling, PLA ends up in an incineration plant, because it‘s not petrochemical based it is also more environmentally friendly as well.

Today, Naturally Iowa‘s percentage of the market is rather small, so that the bottles end up in a landfill where they degrade. But Bill Horner says that first attempts are being made to set up industrial composting facilities.

Bernd Merzenich says: “To be pragmatic, just now I only see incineration with energy recovery as meaningful. From an LCA point of view I would favour thermal disposal, because it generates CO2 neutral energy. Last but not least,

looking at the present hype regarding biofuels, the aspect of eco-friendly energy recovery from bioplastics should be stressed: Bioplastics create a much higher added value from agricultural raw materials than biofuels and can generate a similar output of CO2 neutral energy when incinerated at their end of life.“ As soon as barrier properties and heat resistance are improved, biodegradability as an option will anyway become much less an issue, Bernd adds. “Personally I don‘t believe in biodegradability unless it has practical reasons,“ he says. “For instance when you pack fruit and vegetables you can compost the waste together with the packaging, or when bioplastic shopping bags are available they can be used to collect and compost organic waste.“

Future prospects BIOTA will remain a bottled water company, but Planet Friendly is going to work with different manufacturers to promote PLA and other bio-based packaging. “I would rather help other manufacturers with the different additives and different material properties that are being developed,“ David says.

Belu as well as +1Water have further projects on the drawing board. However, “they are not too far down the road as of yet“, Reed Paget points out.

“So far we just produce the 0.5 gallon milk bottles,“ says Bill Horner, “but starting in June we are going to be bottling milk in 10 and 12 oz. and possibly even 8 oz ‚grab-and-go‘ containers, and in the fall we start with a probiotic drinkable yoghurt with an extended life that we are really excited about,“ he proudly adds. All of the products will be packaged in PLA, the single serve units with a PLA shrink sleeve.

Bernd Merzenich thinks that for many companies in Germany it is a drawback to start using PLA as long as there is only one supplier. First of all, if a company wants to introduce PLA, they can‘t get the material, and secondly, no one wants to rely on a single source. And David Zutler says that governments should support companies that want to build up production capacities.

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

15

Special

Final remarks David Zutlers says: “The big beverage companies in the world will not convert to PLA bottles unless they are required to do so.“ They may be pushed to do so because of economic advantages, or by law. “And governments should consider, when the barrier and heat deflection problems that we are working on have been solved, making the use of PLA or other biobased packaging a requirement.“ Reed Paget wants to stress that all the companies involved today are really pioneers that have taken a significant financial risk and that deserve to be acknowledged and thanked. “Waste in our modern lifestyle is a growing and significant issue, as is energy consumption,“ he says, “and biopolymers are offering a way to maintain a fairly modern lifestyle with the prospect of not leaving a legacy of pollution which the planet cannot sustain.“ Michael Keeffe is very excited about the potential for PLA particularly given growing consumer demands for more environmentally sustainable and socially responsible products. Our PLA water bottle is both of these, a healthier choice for the environment and a healthier choice for the consumer while helping others get clean water too: Bill Horner is very happy “that we made the decision early on and have stuck with it through all the research and development rollercoaster that we‘ve been through. But it‘s been worth it all.“ Not only is Bill very pleased with what they have achieved so far, they are also willing to share the lessons they have learned with other dairy companies around the world.

Bernd Merzenich, with a very focused view on the German beverage packaging situation, thinks it essential that government accepts PLA as an ecologically favourable packaging material so that PLA bottles are exempted from the mandatory deposit fee laid down in the German Packaging Ordinance. “If this can be achieved, it will really be a breakthrough for PLA because we then enter into a new environmental quality. That will make PLA attractive for a mass market,“ he says.

The very final words in this talk with major bioplastics users are from our cover-girl Janina (11). She says: “In school we learned that crude oil is a limited resource and that alternative energies such as wind or solar power can save oil. I didn‘t know that plastics were made from oil and I like the idea that plastics can be made from plants.“ And her little sister Lena (6) adds: “Michael Thielen said, microorganisms that live in the compost heap eat the bioplastics. But I can‘t even imagine what microorganisms look like!“

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bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

www.biotaspringwater.com www.ihrplatz.de www.belu.org www.plusonewater.ca www.naturallyiowa.com

re fo ! e b 0% ok e 1 s o l v – b sa etai r d fe nd e of 7 a mor d r 0 r bi , 20 se fo y rl 3 er Ea ly 1 e rev Ju se

Biodegradable Plastics in Packaging Applications

Thursday, September 13 Friday, September 14 2007 Doubletree Hotel Chicago O’Hare Airport – Rosemont Chicago, IL, US

Commercially viable bioplastics for sustainable packaging applications Two day IntertechPira conference plus half day pre-conference workshop With presentations from leading companies: BioBag BIOTA/Planet Friendly Products Blue Lake Citrus Products Ciba Expert Services Clarifoil Earthcycle Environmental Packaging International EPI Environmental Products Excellent Packaging & Supply Gilbreth Packaging G.S. Polymer Consultants Innovia Films Kraft Foods Global Metabolix Michigan State University Microsoft MonoSol NNZ – The Packaging Network Naturally Iowa NatureWorks Plantic Technologies Whole Foods Market Wild Oats Natural

Including presentations from:

Media Partner:

Plus!

Don’t miss the pre-conference workshop on Wednesday, September 12, 2007: New Markets for Bioplastics

Special

Biodegradable caps

L

ast year, in combination with the “Vitamore“ PLA bottle sold by the German drugstore chain “Ihr Platz“, the Swiss company Wiedmer AG from Näfels in the Canton of Glarus introduced the world‘s first biodegradable closure for beverage bottles. Wiedmer AG focuses on tooling and mould-making parts as well as the production of injection moulded parts.

The BioCap® is a 3.6 gram standard PCO-28 cap with tamper-evident ring. The material is a compostable Mater-Bi polymer from Novamont, Italy. The geometry of the cap and the elastic Mater-Bi material allow the production of a perfectly leak-proof bottle.

With oxygen permeability very much in mind Wiedmer asked the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Freising, Germany, to carry out permeation tests. All BioCaps exhibited an oxygen permeation rate of 0.035-0.039 (cm3/d bar) - a comparable HDPE cap showed 0.027 to 0.032 (cm3/d bar). The tests were performed in line with DIN Standard 53380, part 3.

Wiedmer AG puts great emphasis on protecting the environment. One example of ongoing production process improvements is the successful reduction of the amount of waste thanks to the recycling of injection mouldings.

In the manufacture of plastic closures the use of a hot runner system has reduced waste to practically zero. The consequence is that the energy required for manufacturing, and the emissions produced, have been considerably reduced. In addition, all injection moulding production takes place within a closed loop system, including heat recovery. This heat is then re-used for heating the entire company site. Environmental protection, which has been actively integrated into the optimisation of Wiedmer‘s operating procedures by their employees, offers potential for further cost reductions.

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bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

www.wiedmer-plastic.com

Initially Wiedmer manufactured the caps on a two-cavity prototype mould. They were totally satisfied with the results and the very good processability of the MaterBi material. Detlef Wellner, Marketing and Sales Director at Wiedmer would like to stress that Wiedmer is grateful to Novamont of their support in finding the right MaterBi recipe, the mould design (shrinkage behaviour) and the processing parameters. Wiedmer have now built a 16-cavity production mould, that is currently on test. Wiedmer manufactures the BioCaps on a Netstal injection moulding machine. “And the caps were not exclusively developed for the Vitamore bottle“ says Detlef Wellner, “anyone looking for a compostable closure for PLA bottles can have them.“

Internationales Symposium »Werkstoffe aus Nach­wach­senden Roh­stoffen« Internationaler Kongress zu Pflanzenöl-Kraftstoffen Europäische Kooperationsbörse Fachtagung Biogas

www.narotech.de

Processing

Blowing Your Own PLA Bottles Article contributed by Bruce Kucera, Vice President of Norland International Inc., Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

F

or the time being, PLA as a raw material for bottle applications is suitable rather for niche markets and certain filling goods than for the big CSD (carbonated soft drinks) etc. But even for such niche markets, supplied by small to medium-sized bottling companies on-site manufacturing of PLA or PET bottles has advantages.

Why take a do-it-yourself approach? Because it pays!

Manufacturing your own bottles on site can yield a dramatic cost-per-bottle savings, primarily by cutting out the shipping costs. Current petroleum pricing negatively impacts transportation costs, of course. In some cases, bottlers can save up to 50 percent on their bottles by making their own, Actual savings varies business by business, based on distance from suppliers, and other considerations.

On-site manufacturing also helps alleviate inventory problems. When bottlers make their own, they minimize the required warehouse space. Additionally, they eliminate concerns about the timing of vendor deliveries. Preform purchase and shipping issues, of course, remain the same.

Reprinted in part with permission of Water Conditioning & Purification Magazine, Š September 2006. Any reuse or republication, in part or whole, must be with the written consent of the Publisher.

Publicom, Inc., Tucson, Arizona USA www.norlandintl.com

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bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

Blow molding machines specifically designed for use by the small- to medium-sized bottling companies are now available. No longer are the bigger operations the only ones who can benefit from making their own bottles.

Processing

PLA Bottle-making

Marketing benefits

The technology of PLA-preform making was described in bioplastics MAGAZINE issue 02/2006. Here, we address the issues involved in designing a blow molder capable of manufacturing bottles from PLA preforms. We also look at the added benefits to the bottlers who use PLA bottles in the business.

From a marketing perspective, there are several key advantages for bottlers to convert to PLA bottles.

There is little difference between PLA and PET bottles in terms of appearance and performance. In most cases, what you can do with PET, you can do with PLA, including shape, size, color and other design features. Customers will not know the bottle is made of PLA unless you tell them. The difference is found in material characteristics. Hence, the requirement for PLA-specific blow molders, which must address special issues. Traditional PET blow molders cannot handle PLA successfully.

The primary issue is one of material temperature, which includes both preheating of the preforms before entering the stretch-molding process, and subsequent cooling down of blown bottles.

PLA preforms must be heated to approximately 75°C before entering the stretch-molding process, as opposed to 100°C for PET. At the higher temperature, PLA starts to shrink, so the typical PET blow molder is problematic with PLA. While PLA preforms heat up easily, the material is difficult to cool down; bottle deformation results when they are not adequately cooled before they exit the molds. Therefore, the freshly blown bottles must be cooled down quickly before they leave their molds. Consequently, special cooling techniques, therefore, must be designed and built into each mold.

Additionally, precision process control over all heating lamps and blowing sequences is a must. Fluctuation of a degree or two either way leads to finished bottle quality issues. PLA‘s temperature sensitivity also requires enhanced airflow to ensure even heating in the heat tunnels. When multiple heat tunnels are involved, it is critical to precisely compensate for potentially different heat lamps and airflow so that bottles from each tunnel are consistently heated for optimal performance in the molds. This ensures a consistently high quality finished bottle.

Precision control over air pressure and flows are equally critical. This technology helps move PLA material down from the preform‘s neck area to the bottom to make sure desired thickness is achieved in the bottle from bottom to top.

The first is product differentiation. Let‘s face it.

In the case of bottled water for example, there‘s not much difference between one bottle of water and another. Brand name, methods of water purification, and price are points of differentiation. PLA becomes another point to help bottlers distinguish their product from their competition, particularly those still using PET bottles.

The bottled water market often targets a demographic that prides itself in healthy lifestyles.

Typically, this also includes environmental concern and a proclivity for "eco-friendly“ products.

PLA offers a tangible environmentally friendly argument for its use. There‘s publicity to be gained and media attention to be earned by announcing a switch to PLA and by promoting product as using eco-friendly materials.

Following are points about PLA that capture attention of the market, and result in legitimate environmental benefits:

1. The production process of NatureWorks PLA uses 68 percent less fossil fuel resources than traditional PET plastics. NatureWorks has found that producing 1,000 bottles from PLA resin requires 33 percent less fossil fuel resources and emits 42 percent less greenhouse gases than making 1,000 bottles from PET. (LCA Consultants Report).

2. PLA is the world‘s first greenhouse-gasneutral polymer.

Bottlers considering switching from PET preforms to PLA must be aware that preform selection and bottle design are critical to producing high-quality bottles. Make sure your blowmolding machine supplier approves your perform supplier and bottle design for optimal performance.

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

21

Processing

F

rank Haesendonckx, Product Manager at SIG Corpoplast answers a few questions about high speed stretch blowmoulding of PLA-bottles.

bioplastics equipment?

MAGAZINE

(bM): Can PLA be blowmoulded on standard

Frank Haesendonckx: Even though the processing of PLA preforms and bottles can be implemented on “standard“ machines, several aspects have to be taken into account to produce bottles which meet the economical and industrial requirements. bM: For example?

Interview: PLA blow moulding

Frank Haesendonckx: For example the preform geometry: The behaviour of PLA is different from PET when stretching on a stretch blow moulding machine. It is therefore essential to adjust the preform geometry accordingly. We offer our Bottles&ShapesTM- expertise to help customers design the optimal preform. bM: What else has to be considered?

Frank Haesendonckx: For optimal preheating in the infrared oven, the absorption behaviour of PLA requires additional “CarbonBlack“ additives which are also used in PET. The industry already provides biodegradable additives for this purpose. The transparency of the bottle is not or only inconspicuously influenced. Low heating temperatures are sufficient for PLA preheating. The heating profile in the oven must be adjusted to the preform geometry and the material properties. bM: And what about the actual blowing process?

The first PLA-bottle in the USA, introduced by Biota from Ouray, Colorado and the first one in Europe from Belu, London, UK are stretch blowmoulded on BLOMAX machines from SIG Corpoplast, Hamburg, Germany.

www.sigcorpoplast.com

Frank Haesendonckx: The preblow-pressure for PLA stretch blowing corresponds to the pressure required for PET. The starting point for pre-blowing as well as the stretching rate must be adjusted for PLA. bM: We often hear about limited mechanical and thermal properties of PLA bottles?

Frank Haesendonckx: The mechanical properties of PLA, which still do not meet those of PET, can be compensated for via skilful bottle design. For example, the stackability can be improved by an optimized bottle geometry. The thermal properties of PLA can still not be compared to PET. The bottle shrinkage which already starts at 45°C can partially be improved by deploying a so-called “relax“ process. bM: How do you see the future of PLA as a bottle material?

Frank Haesendonckx: PLA will be an increasingly interesting material for stretch blow moulding due to the rising oil price in the medium and long term. However, further improvements with regard to raw material as well as thermal and mechanical properties are essential.

The main areas of application are still waters, products with short shelf life and products which are not hot filled.

Further applications are provided if the barrier properties can be enhanced. A complete separation between material and product is guaranteed via use of SIG’s PLASMAX inner coating technology which enables packaging of sensitive beverages or food in PLA and ensures product quality. bM: Thank you very much

22

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

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www.EcoFilm.com info@CortecVCI.com 1-800-4-CORTEC St. Paul, MN 55110 USA

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From thick rigid plastic cards to flexible protective wrap, EcoWorks® 70 by Cortec® Research Chemists offers universal, biodegradable replacement to traditional plastic and polyethylene films. This patent pending breakthrough meets ASTM D6400 and DIN V 54 900. EcoWorks® 70 does not contain polyethylene or starch but relies heavily on renewable, bio-based polyester from corn. 100% biodegradable, it turns into water and carbon dioxide in commercial composting.

8/2/06 8:44:40 AM

Applications

Sustainable Shrink Solutions for the Shrink Sleeve Label Market Article contributed by Plastics Suppliers, Inc., Columbus, OH, USA

T

oday’s label market is facing challenges as well as great opportunities. With a push on being “green” as well as offering sustainable options, wouldn’t it be nice to have an alternative shrink sleeve label that is compostable, made from an annually renewable resource and reduces your environmental footprint? To achieve that goal, EarthFirst® PLA TDO shrink sleeve label film is the solution. EarthFirst films are as good and often times better than petrochemical-based films when it comes to an economical environmental solution.

EarthFirst is a biopolymer film made from PLA resin. Bio­ polymers are not new to the plastics’ industry. When they were first introduced, the cost to manufacture them was prohibitive. In the last five years, the cost has come down, making it a viable film to manufacture. One of the most common biopolymers used today is NatureWorks® Polymer, made from # 2 field corn.

The biopolymer shrink film, EarthFirst PLA TDO, has been on the market since October of 2005. Plastic Suppliers, Inc is the first company to manufacture this sustainable shrink film alternative changing the shrink sleeve label market. With impressive mechanical and thermal properties, EarthFirst shrink films are available as a viable replacement for most petrochemical-based shrink sleeve films.

Apple juice bottle sleeved with 50µ EarthFirst PLA TDO shrink sleeve film; printed

by Folienprint, Germany

www.earthfirstpla.com

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bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

EarthFirst has many attributes that make it attractive to the shrink sleeve label market. EarthFirst has a natural dyne level of 38, is clear and rigid, and has direct food contact compliance. It shrinks at a lower temperature than for instance PET and is capable of shrinking up to 75 percent In addition, EarthFirst shrink sleeve film can be stored up to 40° Celsius.

Therefore this film is extremely stable and can perform on all types of shrink label tunnels regardless if steam or hot air is used. All of these features and a great upside; it’s made from corn, an annually renewable resource.

Plastic Suppliers, Inc. is committed to a strong environmental leadership role in protecting our planet. The world is going “green” and the trend toward biopolymers and environmentally friendly films continues to expand. Nationally, Plastic Suppliers and its’ European subsidiary Sidaplax play active

roles as members of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), European Bioplastics, Belgian Biopackaging and UK compostable group. EarthFirst has been certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute and DinCertco stating it is a compostable film under the ASTM 6400 and EN 13432 standards. Plastic Suppliers is committed to understanding the impact of such products upon the environment and will continue to seek out opportunities to participate in environmental research and associations to create an understanding of how biopolymers may be used in the future. There are many different biopolymers out in the marketplace today that are produced by various manufacturing means. The revolutionary EarthFirst TDO is the only film targeting the shrink sleeve label market. It is paving the way in this high profile industry.

Soda drink bottle sleeved by PackStar, USA for Plastic Suppliers Inc. with a 50Âľ EarthFirst PLA TDO shrink sleeve film.

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

25

Applications

Talud protection

Biodegradable non-wovens made from PLA

D

Soil and root protection

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bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

The new product is a fully biodegradable non-woven made of PLA fibres and is an answer to various EU regulations (e.g.

Kyoto, REACH, reduced use of herbicides, etc.). Originally it was developed for the carpet and technical textiles industry. The production process has been developed in-house.

The non-wovens can be offered with different properties: mass per unit area (from 120g/m² up to 1.5 kg /m²), needlepunched or not; structured and calendered. Also tenacity, elongation or other mechanical properties can be varied.

Other options are the introduction of additives, lamination, etc. The recently-developed biodegradable non-woven has been used as a base for the new product, and the process has been adapted to include (grass) seeds. First tests show that the results when growing grass were better than when using carpets with a cellulose base, which is a promising sign for other applications. First ideas for possible applications of this product are as a substitute for non-biodegradable products such as the plastics materials that are used to avoid weeds, etc. It offers a good alternative to the existing mulch-mats - certainly where weight becomes important (e.g. roof gardens). On the other hand other applications also appear possible (e.g. the building sector). As a result the company is looking for new applications for this nonwoven, which it would be pleased to develop in collaboration with customers.

dirk@dstextileplatform.com

S Technical Nonwovens, a Belgian company based in Flanders, offers HortaflexÂŽ, a biodegradable non-woven with or without the inclusion of (grass) seeds. The non-woven is used as agro, geo or horticultural fibre fleece. It can be used as protection against erosion of slopes, battering, and as landscape protection. DS Technical is currently looking for customers interested in further developing the possibilities of this new biomaterial.

Bio-plastics for BIO CAPS • Made from wheat, corn and potatoe starch • Compostable

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Wiedmer AG · Am Linthli 2 · 8752 Näfels · Switzerland Phone: ++41 (0)55 618 44 99 · Fax: ++41 (0)55 618 44 98 · info@wiedmer-plastic.com · www.wiedmer-plastic.com

Incorporating the 2nd global

Bioplastics Awards

Recognising innovation in bioplastics Don’t let your company miss out. Email chris.smith@emap.com for full details and entry pack.

Performance Through Innovation With growing emphasis on sustainable manufacturing, bioplastics certainly have a role to play in the future of the plastics industry. But there are always questions.

What materials are available? How do they really perform? What are the real environmental and financial costs? What are the end-of-life options?

How can bioplastics fit into existing waste management programmes?

5-6 December 2007 - Frankfurt, Germany

The worlds longest running independant Bioplastics conference - now in its 9th year

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The programme is assembled by plastics industry professionals for buyers, processors and users of plastics, and will be launched in full later this year.

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To register Tel: +44 (0)20 7841 4811 (International) 0845 056 5069 (UK Only) Email: EPNconferences@emap.com EPNJUNAD

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Applications

Article contributed by Patrick Zimmermann, FkuR Kunststoff GmbH, Willich, Germany

Compostable F mulch films made from PLA blends

KuR Kunststoff GmbH of Willich, in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT, has developed and brought to market the first compostable mulch film based on a PLA blend. The PLA blends used are a mixture of PLA (polylactide) and further biodegradable polymers plus additives. Industrial production and application testing of the PLA mulch films have been carried out by Oerlemans Plastics B.V. of Genderen in the Netherlands. In comparison to other biodegradable films this novel bio mulch film has the significant advantage of degrading more slowly and being less sensitive to climatic variations.

www.fkur.com www.umsicht.fraunhofer.de www.oerlemansplastics.nl

In 2004 FKuR had already initiated the first tests for biodegradable mulch films. The degradation behaviour of the film under “open-air conditions“ was assayed in laboratory tests.

Since 2005 the industrial application of the film has been carried out together with Oerlemans Plastics. A crucial factor that persuaded Oerlemans Plastics to go for the FKuR PLA mulch film was, amongst others, the problem-free processing of the film on conventional extruders, as used in the production of LDPE films. In the run-up to industrial production the application of the Bio-Flex® mulch film was successfully tested on various crops by several European research institutes and experimental stations.

Since 2005 the compostable PLA mulch films have been tested worldwide on a variety of crops in several climates.

The crop yield with this biofilm is comparable to conventional mulch films made from PE. The PLA mulch films are laid out using conventional laying machines without any difficulty. An important advantage in comparison to other biofilms based on, for example starch, lies in the considerably slower degradation of the film and its resistance to climatic variations. A further advantage of the application of bio mulch films for agriculture is that the film can be easily ploughed in after harvesting, and continues to degrade in the soil. The application of Bio-Flex mulch films reduces the amount of work and the costs of disposal.

The granules and the film are fully compostable according to EN 13432. Additionally they are certified in accordance with to DIN Certco, OK Compost, NFU 52001 and Ecocert.

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bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

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Politics

What’s happening in the

www.bpiworld.org www.biocycle.net www.findacomposter.com www.beps.org

I

t is truly a new world in North America, as the pace of organics diversion continues to increase. Discussions around the issues of sustainability, increasing use of renewable resources and greenhouse gas reductions are coming to the forefront.

Retailer Concerns about Packaging In late 2005, Wal-Mart announced its sustainability drive focused on three aggressive goals: 1. “To Be Supplied 100% By Renewable Energy”: 2. ”To Create Zero Waste”: 3. ”To Sell Products That Sustain Our Resources & Environment”:

Article contributed by Steven Mojo, Executive Director of the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), New York, NY, USA

As part of this effort, Wal-Mart has developed a “scorecard” for packaging and is asking suppliers to document the use of recyclable and compostable packaging (via ASTM D6400) and to verify the use of renewable feedstocks (using ASTM D6866).

This scorecard came on-line in March 2007 and manufacturers will be feeding it data throughout this year.

Wal-Mart’s efforts, like Sainsbury’s in the UK, call attention to the growing array of new materials available to packagers around the globe. At the same time, packagers are starting to inquire about BPI certification and the benefits of the BPI Compostable Logo. Also, manufacturers are striving to increase the percentage of renewably based materials, in order to help reduce their environmental footprint and earn credits from Wal-Mart.

The BPI and its members are immersed in the issues of renewable resources, compostability and biodegradability for almost a decade. As such, they are in a position to help Wal-Mart and others understand the importance of using ASTM Test Methods and Specifications for verifying claims.

This project is a “work in progress”. It will continue to evolve as technology and properties improve and importantly will impact suppliers, consumers and everyone in between.

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New World?

New Legislation in California California continues to set the pace in the area of compostables. Last year, Governor Schwarzenegger signed labeling legislation which restricts the use of the terms “biodegradable”, “compostable” and “degradable” on plastic food containers to only those products that meet ASTM D6400. This legislation is similar to the one passed in 2004 for labelling on plastic bags. Both of the new laws are designed to address the abuse and misuse of these terms and the resulting confusion.

New Ordinances in San Francisco In 2006, San Francisco passed ordinance No 295-06 which bans the use of polystyrene food service packaging and mandates the use of compostable or recyclable alternatives, if their additional costs are within 15% of non-compostable or non-recyclable alternatives. This ordinance is designed to help minimize the waste going to landfills from these operations. Also, this ordinance takes advantage of the City’s well developed recycling and composting infrastructure for businesses and households.

On March 27, 2007, San Francisco passed an ordinance mandating the use of compostable plastic bags or recyclable kraft paper bags by large food chains and pharmacies. Given the city’s widespread organic collection system, the compostable bags can serve two purposes. First they will bring home the groceries and then will have a second life as a liner for residential “kitchen catchers”. The new law takes effect by the end of this year.

Food Scrap Diversion Programs Grow More communities, especially in Eastern Canada and on the West Coast are implementing food scrap diversion efforts. Portland (Oregon) and Seattle (Washington), join the ranks of San Francisco and Oakland, (California) in implementing commercial collection programs and in some communities’ residential ones as well. In the

Canadian province of Ontario organics diversion efforts are beginning to “skyrocket” according to one BPI member.

These are driven by the dual goals of continuing to increase the overall diversion rate from landfills as well as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from landfills. For example, in the US, landfills are the single largest of anthropomorphic methane releases into the atmosphere, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Further the same study shows that landfills are the number 4 contributor of global warming gases.

Findacomposter.com introduced The BPI and BioCycle magazine from Emmaus (Pennsylvania) are joint sponsors of a new website dedicated to increasing the awareness of composting in the US. The new site “findacomposter.com” was debuted in April 2007 at the BioCycle West Coast Conference in San Diego (California). The site will provide consumers information about food scrap collection programs near them and will be available for all to use at no charge. Composters can participate at no cost and all entries will be verified by BioCycle. The BPI and its members are proud to be the first sponsor to support this effort and to help put composting on the map.

The BPI and BEPS team up on a meeting in October, 2007 The BEPS and BPI are jointly sponsoring a conference from Oct. 17-19th in Vancouver, Washington. This meeting will combine presentations and discussions on biodegradable and renewable materials from both academia and industry. Presenters are being lined up from North America, Europe and Asia. The conference will be a “zero waste” event. It is being held at the Hilton Hotel, which has been cited for sustainable practices and it will have an active food scrap diversion effort by the end of the summer.

Learn more about the conference at beps.org

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

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From Science & Research

Novel Nanostructured Crosslinked hyperbranched polymer (HBP)

R

enewable resource based bioplastics are the next generation of materials, which are expected to play a major role in building of a sustainable bioeconomy.

Polylactide (PLA) is a renewable resource based bioplastic. However, the inherent brittleness (poor elongation at break and impact strength) of PLA poses considerable scientific challenges and limits its large-scale commercial applications. Numerous approaches such as plasticization, blending with tough polymers and elastomers have been attempted to overcome its brittleness however with huge sacrifice of strength and modulus of the polylactides.

Fig 1: Transmission electron photomicrograph of modified PLA showing nanoscale dimension of crosslinked HBP i.e. < 100nm (stained dark phase). Scale bar: 100 nm.

At Michigan State University, recently new polylactide based materials having unique stiffness-toughness properties were invented by the authors. The research was focused on exploring the role of emerging hyperbranched polymers in modifying the PLA base resin. Hyperbranched polymers (HBP) are considered as mutant offspring of dendrimers. The nanoscale dimensions, unique physical and chemical properties of HBP make them a unique design tool for tailoring the material properties. Hydroxyl functional aliphatic polyesters are HBPs that consist of a polyalcohol core from which branches extend, forming a coreshell structure. These HBPs can have abundant hydroxyl groups on their periphery leading to their high surface functionalities .

3,2 95 wt.% Modified PLA + 5 wt.% Talc 98 wt.% Modified PLA + 2 wt.% Organo-clay

104 3,2 83 3,2

Modified PLA

37 Tensile Modulus (GPa)

3,5 Unmodified PLA

Elongation at break (%)

4 0

20

40

60

80

100

Fig 2: Tensile properties of hyperbranched polymer modified PLA, its organo-clay based nanocomposites and talc filled composites.

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This research is based on creating new nanoscale hyperbranched organic particles in a PLA matrix (Biomer速 L9000 from Biomer, Germany) during industrially relevant melt processing. In this approach, a commercially

From Science & Research

Polylactide Bioplastics for Multifarious Applications Article contributed by Dr. Amar K. Mohanty, associate professor and Rahul Bhardwaj, PhD student, both at School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA available hydroxyl functional hyperbranched polymer (BOLTORNTM H2004 from Perstorp, Sweden) was selectively in-situ crosslinked with a polyanhydride (PA-18, LV from ChevronPhillips, USA) in the PLA matrix by reactive extrusion. There was formation of a novel nanostructured polylactide based two-phase system (Figure 1), in which crosslinked HBP particles were present in nano-domains (< 100 nm). The modified PLA, having 90-92 weight-% of pure PLA, exhibited an improvement in elongation at break of about 800-1000% with minimal sacrifice of tensile strength and modulus.

The findings showed that such a modified PLA bioplastic material can act as an ideal matrix for nano-clay or talc as well as natural fiber reinforcements leading to the development of many PLA based materials with attractive properties. Figure 2 represents the tensile properties of such a modified PLA, its organoclay (Southern Clay Products, USA) reinforced nanocomposites and talc (Luzenac, USA) filled composites. The modified PLA surprisingly exhibited 20 and 25 fold improvement in elongation at break on specific loadings of nanoclay and talc particles. These findings also revealed that the modified PLA can act as an additive for the dispersion of nanoclay in polylactide based nanocomposites. The potential impact of this research on PLA can lead to the enhancement of its stiffness-toughness balance, improved melt strength, tailored melt viscosity and ease of processing, which can be exploited in a variety of products and processes. This research is financially supported by the US National Science Foundation- Division of Design, Manufacture, and Industrial Innovation (NSF-DMII) program.

www.egr.msu.edu/cmsc/biomaterials www.msu.edu/~mohantya/ 105x148_bioplastics MAG_4c 16.05.2007 12:49 Uhr Seite 1 www.packaging.msu.edu/Mohanty.php C M Y CM

MY

CY CMY

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Note the date!

Nuremberg, Germany

14 – 16.11.2007

2007 Raw Materials – Technologies – Logistics – Marketing 47. European Trade Fair for the Beverage Industry

Organizer NürnbergMesse Tel +49 (0) 9 11. 86 06-0 info@nuernbergmesse.de www.brau-beviale.de

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From Science & Research

Protein-Based Plastics and

T

he adoption of protein-based plastic by industry has been slow for several reasons; principal among them are costs of raw materials, limited thermalmechanical strength, and solvent sensitivity. There are, however, strong reasons for using protein-based plastics, including the reduction of petrochemical dependence as well as the reduction of greenhouse gases and other environmental impacts, such as landfill usage. In addition, the poor properties can be significantly enhanced with appropriate additives and through careful processing techniques. For these reasons there is a renewed push for industry to seriously consider the adoption of proteinbased polymers for many existing applications which use petroleum-derived plastics.

Additives and Processing Proteins in their native state can be resilient, strong, and low density macromolecules, as evident by several biological protein structures, such as bone and hair.

However, to utilize the proteins, their structure must fist be partially broken down during processing and reformed to a new structure. As such, the thermal-mechanical and water absorption properties of protein-based plastics depend heavily on several factors, such as the plasticizers used (e.g., glycerol, ethylene glycerol, butanediol, sorghum wax, ethanol and sorbitol), the addition of cross-linking agents (e.g., zinc sulfate, acedic anhydride, formaldehyde), and processing parameters (e.g., extrusion pressure and temperature and initial moisture content).

Reduce Moisture Susceptibility Article contributed by David Grewell, Dpt. of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering; Michael Kessler, Dpt. of Materials Science and Engineering; William Graves, Dpt. of Horticulture; all from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA www.egr.msu.edu/cmsc/biomaterials

Fig 2: Plant pots formulated from Zein (left) and petrochemical plastic pot

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Work at Iowa State University (ISU) is under way to characterize these protein derived polymers and evaluate various treatments and formulations to enhance their properties. For example, it is now understood that the addition of selective salts, such as zinc stearate and zinc sulfate, can reduce the water sensitivity of plastics derived from soybean proteins. In addition, it has been demonstrated that thermal treatments (ranging from 80 to 120 째C) can reduce the susceptibility of these plastics to water. Soy plastics were also co-blended 50:50 with polycaprolactone (PCL), a biodegradable polyester, in order to reduce water absorption.

Figure 1 shows that the control sample, untreated soy plastics, absorbs over 150% water by weight within a few hours. It is also seen that by heat treatment the water absorption decreased significantly after 24 hrs. However, the largest improvement was seen when the soy plastic was blended with biodegradable PCL, where the water absorption was less than 20% even after 24 hrs. of exposure. It is believed that the relatively water insoluble PCL formed a continuous phase within the blend and shrouded the soy plastic from the water.

This allows the PCL to reduce water exposure of the soy plastic thus reducing the overall water sensitivity.

While the addition of 2 parts of zinc stearate and zinc sulfate did reduce the water absorption, the reduction is limited compared to heat treatment and co-blending with PCL.

From Science & Research

Applications Nano-Clays and Foamed Structures

In order to overcome the issues related to costs of raw materials, researchers at ISU are working with Trexel Corp. (Woburn, Massachusetts) to characterize foamed substrates. It is expected that these materials will reduce the raw material requirements while maintaining mechanical strength.

Potential Applications Resulting data from this work were used to formulate selected grades and processing conditions for application studies. In two initial application examples, Creative Composites (Brooklyn, Iowa), and Vermeer Manufacturing Co. (Pella, Iowa) are supplying materials to evaluate their use for selected products, including hay bale sealing films and locomotive grease applicators.

Fig 3: Natural fiber reinforcement

200

Moisture absorbition (%wt)

Other mechanical, thermal, and physicochemical property enhancement techniques being investigated at ISU include the use of high powered ultrasonics to promote exfoliation of nano-clays. These polymer-layered silicate nanocomposites can have enhanced vapor barrier properties, further reducing water absorption, while simultaneously increasing tensile modulus and strength and heat distortion temperature.

150

100

50

0

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Time (hrs) Control

Fig 1: Moisture absorption over time

ZnS=4 Zinc Steartate 80 °C 100 °C

Some studies have shown that water resistant films formulated from Zein, a protein derived from corn, can be formed as thin as 100 μm. The films are flexible and relatively strong. Currently, processing and characterization tests are being performed with these films.

120 °C PCL Coblend

Other applications include bio-degradable pots for plants. The photograph (Fig. 2) shows a pot formulated from Zein (left) next to a conventional petrochemical plastic pot (right). Other formulations include the reinforcement of the Zein polymer with natural fibers (Fig 3).

While this research is in its early stages, the preliminary results are promising. It has already been shown that the water sensitivity of soy protein plastics can be decreased through simple blending or heat treatment.

Similar enhancement in mechanical properties and cost with the incorporation of exfoliated clay platelets and Zein-based proteins is expected. The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the Grow Iowa Value Funds for supporting this work, as well as Zein Corporation, Trexel Corporation, Creative Composites, and Vermeer Manufacturing Co.

Fig 4: Reinforcing rib structure

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Basics

Bioplastics vs.

Agricultural Land

Calculations, estimates, assumptions and conclusions

How much bioplastics do I get from agricultural land?

How much bioplastics can be obtained from 1 hectare of land? Differ ent figures are available to answer this question. We look at just three bioplastics as examples.

T

here is a lot of confusion about the amounts of bioplastics that can be obtained from a given quantity of agricultural crops, and how much of these agricultural crops can be harvested from a given agricultural area. And last but not least: Is there enough agricultural land available to grow crops for bioplastics?

This article can be regarded as a first attempt to shed some light onto this confusion, although the considerations are very much simplified in order to arrive at an initial overview. As with other articles in this „Basics“ section of bioplastics MAGAZINE, experts in the aspects discussed here are expressly invited to share their knowledge. Please contact the editor. We will assemble all of the information received and present an update in one of the following issues.

Sources [1] FAQ at www.natureworksllc.com [2] University of Nebraska (www.ianrpubs. unl.edu/epublic/pages/publicationD. jsp?publicationId=144) [3] Personal information, Erwin Vink, NatureWorks [4] The Concept of Novamont‘s Biorefinery integrated in the Territory, Catia Bastioli, Novamont, Brussels, Nov. 2006 [5] National Corn Growers Association (www.ncga.com/CYC/Winners/national.asp) [6] Fachagentur nachwachsende Rohstoffe, brochure: „Bioplastics – Plants, Raw Materials, Products“ (www.fnr-server.de/pdf/literatur/pdf_237bioplastics2006.pdf) [7] Personal information, Brian Igoe, Metabolix [8] D. Bockey, UFOP, based on information from the Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Landwirtschaft und Forsten (in Bioenergie - ein Markt der Zukunft, TTL Jena, A. Vetter, 2006) [9] www.european-bioplastics.org

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PLA: The FAQ page at natureworksllc.com reports that on average, approximately 2.5 kg of corn (15% moisture) are required per kg of PLA. This does not mean that the difference (1.5 kg corn) is all waste. A part of this difference is simply water, a part of it ends up in other corn wet mill products such as germ oil, corn gluten meal and corn gluten feed, and part represents the yield losses in the different processes [1].

Depending on the geographical location and whether a field is irrigated or not, the yield of corn per hectare differs significantly. Yields vary from 60 bushels/acre (3.7 tons/hectare) from Western Nebraska dryland [2] through 148 bushels/acre (9.3 t/ha) as the average corn yield in the USA in 2004/2005 [3] and 12 t/ha in Europe [4], going right up to 332 bu/acre (20.7 t/ha) reported from the National Corn Yield Contest in the USA 2006 [5] If we take the US average in 2004/2005 we can calculate an average “yield“ of 3.72 tons of PLA that can be “harvested“ from one hectare of land. Other sources report approximately 2 tons [6] or 2.5 tons [1] of PLA per hectare. è PLA: Approx. 2-3.7 tons / hectare

PHA: Metabolix report that currently corn is the major source for their PHA. For 1 kg of PHA approximately 4.66 kg corn is needed [7].

Based on the information on corn yield above (average 9.3 t/ha), it is clear that about 2 tons of PHA per hectare can be harvested. è PHA: Approx. 2 tons / hectare

MaterBi: MaterBi by Novamont [4] is a bioplastics material based on starch derived from corn and oils (derived in turn from oilseeds). Approximately 0.5 kg of corn and 1.4 kg of oilseeds, plus other components and additives, are needed to produce 1 kg of one example formulation of MaterBi. Given the corn yield of about 12 t/ha and a vegetable oil productivity of 1 t/ha [g] Novamont calculate a yield of approximately 2.5 tons of an average of different MaterBi resins that can be harvested from one hectare. è MaterBi: Approx. 2.5 tons / ha

Basics Photo: Novamont

How much agricultural crop land is available?

We will start with some basic figures. The total land area of this planet is about 13 billion hectares. The usable agricultural and silvicultural (forestry) area is about 5 billion hectares and agricultural crop land is given as approximately 1.38 billion ha [8]. The remaining question is: How much of this can be used for the production of agricultural crops for bioplastics?

Here are some figures as a general indication: It is known that in many countries of the world a certain amount of agricultural crop land is not permitted to be used for food production, because the overproduction of food leads to an “imbalance in market prices“. In Europe the Common Agricultural Policy therefore has required the establishment of so called “set-aside zones“ where food products must not be grown. This measure is aimed at reducing the high level of agricultural subsidies in Europe. European Bioplastics estimates the available area for non-food production in the European Union (EU27) at around 20 million hectares [9] Based on the figures above this is enough for 40-50 million tons of bioplastics.

So even if bioenergy, bioethanol and biodiesel to power our cars, and other chemical intermediate products, require agricultural crops there should be enough agricultural land available for the production of bioplastics. And bioplastics can after their material life be recovered by e.g. incineration, which gives a “double dividend“ from the respective agricultural resource. Both in ecological as well as in economical terms, bioplastics should therefore be a very favourable way of making use of agricultural commodities.

In addition to this, it should be mentioned that we have discussed only primary agricultural crops here.

However, developments are under way to create bioplastics from secondary biomaterial such as straw, stems and leaves, and even from municipal waste water.

In this respect, it is interesting to consider the situation in the U.S.: The full capacity of NatureWorks‘ PLA plant of 140,000 tons per year needs only about 0.14% of the total corn produced in the USA.

How much bioplastics will be needed?

Latest figures say that the annual global production of all plastics today is about 240 million tons. If estimates that say about 10% of all plastics could be replaced by bioplastics are correct, this would amount to 24 million tons. For these 24 million tons, according to the figures above, agricultural crop land of approximalety 10 million hectares would be needed.

This is 0.7 percent of the global agricultural crop land or 50 percent of the European set-aside zones - which are not even being used for food production.

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Basics A certain number of products made of bioplastics are already available in the market. Almost all of them are labelled with some kind of a logo that tells the consumer about the special character of the plastics material used. These logos and their background are introduced by bioplastics MAGAZINE in this series. Here questions such as: What is the origin and history of a logo? What does it mean?

Which rules are involved with it? will be adressed.

Logos Part 4:

The Scandinavian

O

nce in a while you find an “apple” logo on bioplastics products. In fact there are two different “apple” logos, one being used in Norway and the other in Finland.

The Finnish Solid Waste Association, FSWA (in Finnish Jätelaitosyhdistys), represents Finnish regional and municipal waste management companies. The member companies take care of the waste management for about five million citizens (94 % of the total population).

FSWA is an organisation that acts as a link between the member companies, the Finnish authorities and the European Union. It is a strong developer of waste management in Finland and guarantees a sound basis for the member companies‘ operations.

About ten years ago FSWA member companies started to collect biowaste, mainly organic kitchen waste, from households. “We encourage people to compost their yard waste at home in their own gardens or in special compost bins,“ says Markku Salo, Director of FSWA. Part of a large communication and promotion campaign in which the Ministry for Environment was also involved, was the creation of the

biowaste-bin for the kitchen, lined with a bioplastics-bag

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www.jly.fi www.avfallnorge.no

“Finnish apple logo“. The reason for creating the logo was quite simple. When biodegradable waste bags became available people saw the bags in biowaste bins and thought they could dispose of their kitchen waste in plastic bags.

So in order to distinguish compostable biowaste bags from “normal“ plastic bags, the apple-logo was printed on the bio-bags. “In Finland, biowaste bags are more or less the only compostable plastics products that are available,“ says Markku Salo. All biowaste bags carrying the apple logo are certified in line with EN 13432. In Finland today five suppliers sell certified biowaste bags with the apple logo. The logo is printed on each bag. The composting bag producers get a “brand” and a regularly promoted logo for their products. Consumers can be sure that the product meets the requirements of the standard. The same logo is well known from the waste organisation information material, biowaste bins and collection vehicles.

In Norway, the situation is quite similar, as Henrik Lystad of Avfall Norge explains.

The system for recommendation and labelling of compostable waste bags is operated since 2002 by Avfall Norge (Waste Management Norway, formerly NRF). Avfall Norge is a branch and interest organisation for approximately 90 municipal and intermunicipal solid waste organisations and about 50 private companies. The municipal members cover approximately 95 percent of Norway’s inhabitants.

In Norway, source separation is introduced for over 60 % of the population. The municipality often buys the waste bags for their inhabitants, i.e. the provision of the bags being incluced in the refuse collection charge. Thus the logo was not created as a marketing instrument, “but to help the municipalities to distinguish the ‘good from the less good’ waste bag products,” as Henrik Lystad puts it.

When the logo was created, Henrik worked with a soil research institute where he prepared the “System for recommendation and labelling of compostable waste bags”. In

Basics

“apples“ his report he suggested an apple logo, based on an already existing logo. The apple was originally created as a logo for stickers etc to put on source separation bins for biowaste together with other logos for paper, glass, textiles, residual waste etc. Later, in 2002 the apple logo for compostable waste bags was created, using the apple in conjunction with a frame all around, the word “compostable” and a certification number to be used with biowaste-bags, distinguishing it from the waste bin sticker.

Like in Finland, the Norwegian apple logo is only to be used in conjunction with biowaste-bags.

It may be used when the respective CEN or DIN standards for compostability are fulfilled. To ensure the functionality of the waste bags an additional criterion was defined focusing on the durability of the bags.

The test method was adapted from the Belgian VGS; ”D9 programme: Bags made of bioplastics intended to collect biodegradable houehold refuse” (AIB Vincotte 1999). According to this test bags are filled with an artivicial biowaste mix and stored at up to 40° C for one week and the bag is not allowed to brake apart.

Finnish apple logo

The compostable logo, which is available for use on paper bags too, has, for whatever reason, not yet been adopted by the paper industry.

In fact in Norway today just one company offers bio-plastic waste bags with this logo. In order to open up market competition when municipalites call for tenders, Henrik Lystad says „Avfallnorge is now considering opening the biowaste system to bag products that fulfil similar standards, for example those with the Seedling* Logo.“ *: See Logos part 1 in bioplastics MAGZINE 01/2006

Norwegian apple logo

Basics Glossary

Glossary In bioplastics MAGAZINE again and again the same expressions appear that some of our readers might (not yet) be familiar with.

This glossary shall help with these terms and shall help avoid repeated explanations such as „PLA (Polylactide)“ in various articles.

Amylopectin Polymeric branched starch molecule with very high molecular weight (biopolymer, monomer is à Glucose).

Amylose Polymeric non-branched starch molecule with high molecular weight (biopolymer, monomer is à Glucose).

Biodegradable Plastics Biodegradable Plastics are plastics that are completely assimilated by the à microorganisms present a defined environment as food for their energy. The carbon of the plastic must completely be converted into CO2.during the microbial process. For an official definition, please refer to the standards e.g. ISO or in Europe: EN 14995 PlasticsEvaluation of compostability - Test scheme and specifications. [bM* 02/2006 p. 34f, bM 01/2007 p38].

Blend Mixture of plastics, polymer alloy of at least two microscopically dispersed and molecularly distributed base polymers.

Cellophane Clear film on the basis of à cellulose.

Cellulose Polymeric molecule with very high molecular weight (biopolymer, monomer is à Glucose), industrial production from wood or cotton, to manufacture paper, plastics and fibres.

Compost A soil conditioning material of decomposing organic matter which provides nutrients and enhances soil structure.

Compostable Plastics

Readers who know better explanations or who would like to suggest other explanations to be added to the list, please contact the editor. Explanantions we are currenty looking for are for example “organic“ or “renewable“ [*: bM ... refers to more comprehensive article previously published in bioplastics MAGAZINE)

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Plastics that are biodegradable under “composting“ conditions: specified humidity, temperature, à microorganisms and timefame. Several national and international standards exist for clearer definitions, for example EN 14995 Plastics - Evaluation of compostability - Test scheme and specifications [bM 02/2006 p. 34f, bM 01/2007 p38].

Composting A solid waste management technique that uses natural process to convert organic materials to CO2, water and humus through the action of à microorganisms.

Basics Glossary

Copolymer Plastic composed of different monomers.

Fermentation Biochemical reactions controlled by à microorganisms or enyzmes (e.g. the transformation of sugar into lactic acid).

Gelatine Translucent brittle solid substance, colorless or slightly yellow, nearly tasteless and odorless, extracted from the collagen inside animals‘ connective tissue.

Glucose Monosaccharide (or simple sugar). G. is the most important carbohydrate (sugar) in biology. G. is formed by photosyntheses or hydrolysis of many carbohydrates e.g. starch.

Humus In agriculture, “humus“ is often used simply to mean mature à compost, or natural compost extracted from a forest or other spontaneous source for use to amend soil.

PHB Polyhydroxyl buteric acid (better poly-3-hydroxybutyrate), is a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), a polymer belonging to the polyesters class. PHB is produced by micro-organisms apparently in response to conditions of physiological stress.

The polymer is primarily a product of carbon assimilation (from glucose or starch) and is employed by micro-organisms as a form of energy storage molecule to be metabolized when other common energy sources are not available.

PHB has properties similar to those of PP, however it is stiffer and more brittle.

PLA Polylactide, a bioplastic made of polymerised lactic acid.

Sorbitol Sugar alcohol, obtained by reduction of glucose changing the aldehyde group to an additional hydroxyl group. S. is used as a plasticiser for bioplastics based on starch .

Starch Natural polymer (carbohydrate) consisting of à amylose and à amylopectin, gained from maize, potatoes, heat, tapioca etc.

Hydrophilic

Sustainable

Property: “water-friendly“, soluble in water or other polar solvents (e.g. used in conjunction with a plastic which is not waterresistant and weatherproof or that absorbs water such as Polyamide (PA)).

An attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future. One of the most often cited definitions of sustainability is the one created by the Brundtland Commission, led by the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as development that „meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.“ Sustainability relates to the continuity of economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human society, as well as the non-human environment).

Hydrophobic Property: “water-resistant“, not soluble in water (e.g. a plastic which is waterresistant and weatherproof, or that does not absorb any water such as Polethylene (PE) or Polypropylene (PP)).

Microorganism Living organisms of microscopic size, such as bacteria, funghi or yeast.

PCL Polycaprolactone, a synthetic (fossil based), biodegradable bioplastic, e.g. used as a blend component.

PHA

Thermoplastics Plastics which soften or melt when heated and solidify when cooled (solid at room temperature).

Yard Waste Grass clippings, leaves, trimmings, garden residue.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates are linear polyesters produced in nature by bacterial fermentation of sugar or lipids. The most common type of PHA is à PHB.

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

41

Review

PLA hot topic at PETnology Forum

A

t the 10th PETnology Forum in Munich, Germany, technical experts and senior managers from the beverage and packaging industry, raw material and machinery suppliers, as well as suppliers of peripheral equipment, caps, colorants and consultants, shared their latest developments and innovations with more than 280 delegates from 33 countries. The number of delegates is a new record for PETnology GmbH of Regensburg, Germany.

Recognising the trend towards sustainability and so towards bioplastics, this year‘s PETnology Forum for the second time dedicated a special session to the “Potential and Developments for Renewable Plastics in Packaging“. This session was chaired by Dr. Harald Kaeb, Chairman of European Bioplastics.

Harald Kaeb himself opened the session with a presentation on “Market Introduction and Policy Measures in Europe“.

from left to right: Luc Vervynck, Bernd Merzenich, Brian Glasbrenner, Dr. Harald Kaeb

In his presentation “Additives to Improve Processing & Properties of PLA“ Luc Vervynck of the ColorMatrix Group Inc. introduced additives to minimise yellowing effects and processing aids such as ColorMatrix EzeTM. The JouleTM reheat additives improve the heat uptake of PLA in the oven of the stretch blow moulding machine.

Bernd Merzenich, formerly a consultant for the German drugstore chain “Ihr platz“, shared his positive experience when introducing the “Vitamore“ wellness beverages in PLA bottles with the world‘s first biodegradable cap.

NatureWorks‘ Global Director - Bottles, Brian Glasbrenner, talked about „Responsible Packaging and Disposal - from Resin to Recycling“. For him a critical mass is important when trying to understand the economic sustainability of recycling a new polymer. Therefore retailers, brand owners and other stakeholders should be involved.

www.petnology.com

Erwin Vink in PLA Workshop

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bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

With regard to bioplastics the PETnology Forum was rounded off by a workshop on the subject of “PLA“. Here Brian Glasbrenner and Erwin Vink of NatureWorks LLC introduced a variety of PLA applications - not only bottles. At the end of the workshop they pointed out that NatureWorks is attempting to increase the environmental benefits of PLA by using wind energy. NatureWorks is one of the top 20 purchasers of renewable energy certificates (RECs). The net result of purchasing RECs and using a renewable feedstock leads to a reduction of 62-69 percent in fossil fuel use for the manufacture of NatureWworks PLA compared with traditional plastics.

Stay permanently listed in the Suppliers Guide with your company logo and contact information.

For only 6,– EUR per mm, per issue you can be present among top suppliers in the field of bioplastics.

1. Raw Materials

Transmare Compounding B.V. Ringweg 7, 6045 JL Roermond, The Netherlands Phone: +31 (0)475 345 900 Fax: +31 (0)475 345 910 Du Pont de Nemours International S.A. info@transmare.nl 2, Chemin du Pavillon, PO Box 50 www.compounding.nl CH 1218 Le Grand Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland 1.3 PLA Phone: + 41(0) 22 717 5176 Fax: + 41(0) 22 580 2360 thomas.philipon@che.dupont.com www.packaging.dupont.com Uhde Inventa-Fischer GmbH

R.O.J. Jongboom Holding B.V. Biopearls Damstraat 28 6671 AE Zetten The Netherlands Tel.: +31 488 451318 Mob: +31 646104345 info@biopearls.nl www.biopearls.nl

Holzhauser Str. 157 - 159 13509 Berlin Germany Tel.: +49 (0)30 43567 5 fax: +49 (0)30 43567 699 sales.de@thyssenkrupp.com www.uhde-inventa-fischer.com 1.4 starch-based bioplastics

BIOTEC Biologische Naturverpackungen GmbH & Co. KG Werner-Heisenberg-Straße 32 46446 Emmerich Germany Tel.: +49 2822 92510 Fax: +49 2822 51840 info@biotec.de www.biotec.de

BIOTEC Biologische Naturverpackungen GmbH & Co. KG 1.5 PHA Werner-Heisenberg-Straße 32 46446 Emmerich 1.6 masterbatches Germany Tel.: +49 2822 92510 Fax: +49 2822 51840 info@biotec.de www.biotec.de

FKuR Kunststoff GmbH Siemensring 79 D - 47 877 Willich Tel.: +49 (0) 2154 9251-26 Tel.: +49 (0) 2154 9251-51 patrick.zimmermann@fkur.de www.fkur.de

Tel.: +49-2359-2996-0 or suppguide@bioplasticsmagazine.com Simply contact:

2. Additives / Secondary raw materials

1.1 bio based monomers

1.2 compounds

Suppliers Guide

PolyOne Avenue Melville Wilson, 2 Zoning de la Fagne 5330 Assesse Belgium Tel.: + 32 83 660 211 info.color@polyone.com www.polyone.com

Sukano Products Ltd. Chaltenbodenstrasse 23 CH-8834 Schindellegi Phone +41 44 787 57 77 Fax +41 44 787 57 78 www.sukano.com 1.7 reinforcing fibres/fillers made from RRM

Du Pont de Nemours International S.A. 2, Chemin du Pavillon, PO Box 50 CH 1218 Le Grand Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland Phone: + 41(0) 22 717 5176 Fax: + 41(0) 22 580 2360 thomas.philipon@che.dupont.com www.packaging.dupont.com 3. Semi finished products 3.1 films

Maag GmbH Leckingser Straße 12 58640 Iserlohn Germany Tel.: + 49 2371 9779-30 Fax: + 49 2371 9779-97 shonke@maag.de www.maag.de

Treofan Germany GmbH & Co. KG Am Prime Parc 17 65479 Raunheim Tel +49 6142 200-0 Fax +49 6142 200-3299 www.biophanfilms.com

www.earthfirstpla.com www.sidaplax.com www.plasticsuppliers.com Sidaplax UK : +44 (1) 604 76 66 99 Sidaplax Belgium: +32 9 210 80 10 Plastic Suppliers: 1 866 378 4178 3.1.1 cellulose based films

4. Bioplastics products

natura Verpackungs GmbH Industriestr. 55 - 57 48432 Rheine Tel.: +49 5975 303-57 Fax: +49 5975 303-42 info@naturapackaging.com www.naturapackagign.com

Veriplast Holland BV Stadhoudersmolenweg 70 NL - 7317 AW Apeldoorn www.veripure.eu Info@veripure.eu 4.1 trays 5. Traders 5.1 wholesale 6. Machinery & Molds

Molds, Change Parts and Turnkey Solutions for the PET/Bioplastic Container Industry 284 Pinebush Road Cambridge Ontario Canada N1T 1Z6 Tel.: 001 519 624 9720 Fax: 001 519 624 9721 info@hallink.com www.hallink.com

SIG CORPOPLAST GMBH & CO.KG Meiendorfer Str. 203 22145 Hamburg, Germany Tel. 0049-40-679-070 Fax 0049-40-679-07270 sigcorpoplast@sig.biz www.sigcorpoplast.com 7 Ancillary equipment 8. Services 9. Research institutes / Universities

INNOVIA FILMS LTD Wigton Cumbria CA7 9BG England Contact: Andy Sweetman Tel.: +44 16973 41549 Fax: +44 16973 41452 andy.sweetman@innoviafilms.com www.innoviafilms.com

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

43

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Event-Calendar June 14-15, 2007 Biofolien für Bioverpackungen Steigenberger Hotel, Osnabrück, Germany www.innoform-coaching.de June 26-27, 2007 Packaging Summit Europe Hotel Okura, Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.pkgeurope.com July 3-4, 2007 Biodegradable Plastics in Packaging Applications Hilton Munich Park Hotel, Munich, Germany www.intertechpira.com July 9-11, 2007 The 8th International Conference of Eco-Materials Brunel University, West London, London, UK sed.temp@brunel.ac.uk September 6-9, 2007 naro.tec 2007 Messe und Kongresse für Nachwachsende Rohstoffe Messezentrum Erfurt, Germany www.narotec.de September 12-13, 2007 1st PLA-Bottle-Conference organized by bioplastics MAGAZINE Grand Elysee Hotel Hamburg, Germany www.pla-bottle-conference.com September 13-14, 2007 Biodegradable Plastics in Packaging Applications Chicago, IL, USA www.intertechpira.com September 18-19, 2007 Biokunststoffe, Herstellung - Verarbeitung - Anwendung University of Duisburg, Germany www.hanser.de/biokunststoffe September 25-26, 2007 Sustainable Packaging Central London, UK www.epn-sustainablepackaging.com October 17-19, 2007 BioEnvironmental Polymer Society 14th Annual Meeting International Symposium on Polymers and the Environment: Emerging Technology and Science Hilton Vancouver Hotel, Vancouver, Washington Call for Papers: gmg@pw.usda.gov

Events

October 24-31, 2007 K‘2007, International Trade Fair No 1 for Plastic and Rubber Worldwide Düsseldorf, Germany www.k-online.de meet bioplastics MAGAZINE in Hall 7, 07C09 November 21-22, 2007 2nd European Bioplastics 2007 Convention Centre Newport Bay Club Disneyland Paris, France www.european-bioplastics.org November 27-28, 2007 PETnology Asia Shanghai www.petnology.com December 5-6, 2007 Bioplastics 2007 including Bioplastics Awards 2007 Frankfurt/Main, Germany www.bpevent.com (for the awards contact chris.smith@emap.com) March 3-4, 2008 3rd International Seminar on Biodegradable Polymers Valencia, Spain http://www.azom.com/details.asp?newsID=7345 June 18-19, 2008 7th Global WPC and Natural Fibre Composites Congress and Exhibition Kongress Palais, Stadthalle, Kassel, Germany www.wpc-nfk.de

K‘2007 - show preview One of the biggest events for the plastics industry is certainly the K’2007 in Düsseldorf, Germany from 24-31 October, 2007.

At the “number 1 for plastics and rubber worldwide” more than 2,900 exhibitors will show their expertise and products on an extended fairground of 265,000 square metres. The last “K-Show” in 2004 attracted almost 231,000 visitors from all over the world.

For the next issue bioplastics MAGAZINE will prepare a special K’2007 show preview. Therefore we ask all suppliers of products or services exhibiting at K’2007 to send us your press releases, information about your exhibits etc..

Come and see us at K’2007. bioplastics MAGAZINE would be happy to welcome you in hall 7, booth 7C09.

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

45

Companies in this issue

Company

Editorial

5

Metabolix

5, 36

38

Michigan State University

32

Belu Mineral Water

10

Naro.tect (Messe Erfurt)

Bio Environmental Polymer Society (BEPS)

31

National Science Foundation

33

BioCycle Magazine

31

Natura Packaging

47

Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI)

30

Naturally Iowa

10

Biomer

32

NatureWorks

Biopearls

5

6, 10, 21, 24, 36, 42

Netstal

18

Norland International

10, 20

Novamont (MaterBi)

11, 18, 36

Oerlemans Plastics

28

Perstorp

33

PETnology

42

Planet Friendly Priducts

10

Plantic Technologies

7, 14

Plasticker

8

23

Plastics Supplers

24

23

Plastipak

11

Plus One Water

10

Quellenhof

11

Sainsbury‘s

30

Sidaplax

24

23

SIG Corpoplast

10, 22

2

SIG Plasmax Souther Clay Products Tate&Lyle Telles Trexel Turtle Island Project Vermeer Manufacturing Visy Industries Wal-Mart Wiedmer AG Zenith Publishing

14, 22 33 11 5 35 15 35 7, 14 30 18

Company

Editorial

Arhcer Daniels Midland (ADM) Avfall Norge (Waste Management Norway)

Bioplastics24.com

Advert

37 7

Biota Brands of America

10

Blue Lake Citrus Products

6

Brau Beviale (Messe Nürnberg)

33

Brecon Mineral Water

11

Chevron Phillips

33

ColorMatrix

42

Consolidated Container Corporation

6

Cortec

23

Creative Composites

35

Danimer

14

DS Technical Nowovens

26

DuPont Packaging

6

Emap

7

European Bioplastics

7, 37, 42

Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe (FNR)

36

Finnish Solid Waste Association (FSWA)

38

FkUR Kunststoff

28

Fraunhofer Institut UMSICHT

28

German Bioplastics

11

Grow Iowa Value Funds

35

Hallink

25

Husky

10

Ihr Platz

10, 18, 43

Intertech Pira

17

Iowa State University

34

Iroquois Water

11

K‘2007 (Messe Düsseldorf)

45

Krones

11

Luzenac

33

9

Advert

19

48

17 29

Next Issue For the next issue of bioplastics MAGAZINE (among others) the following subjects are scheduled:

Special:

Basics:

Events:

Next issues:

Trays, films

What exactly happens in industrial composting

Review and preview of events like exhibitions and conferences e.g. K‘2007 preview

03/07 04/07 01/08 01/08

Logos Part 5

46

bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/07] Vol. 2

October 2007 December 2007 February 2008 April 2008

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.ATURA 0ACKAGING IS MEMBER OF THE 3TORSACK 'ROUP

THE SECOND SKIN FOR YOUR PRODUCT

4HIS APPLE IS PACKED IN MATERIAL MADE OUT OF RENEWABLE RESOURCES .OT ONLY IS THIS GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT BUT ALSO FOR THE SHELF LIFE OF THE PRODUCT /N TOP OF THAT THE TECHNICAL QUALITIES OF COMPOSTABLE PACKAGING ARE EQUAL TO THOSE OF TRADITIONAL PACKAGING !S YOU CAN SEE

A SECOND SKIN ONLY HAS ADVANTAGES

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.ATURA 0ACKAGING ,ANSINKESWEG ., !% (ENGELO 4HE .ETHERLANDS 4

A real sign of sustainable development.

There is such a thing as genuinely sustainable development.

Since 1989, Novamont researchers have been working on an ambitious project that combines the chemical industry, agriculture and the environment: “Living Chemistry for Quality of Life”. Its objective has been to create products that have a low environmental impact.

The innovative result of Novamont’s research is the new bioplastic Mater-Bi ®.The Mater-Bi ® polymer comes from maize starch and other vegetable starches; it is completely biodegradable and compostable.

Mater-Bi ® performs like plastic, but it saves energy, contributes to reducing the greenhouse effect, and at the end of its life cycle, it closes the loop by changing into fertile humus. Everyone’s dream has become a reality.

Mater-Bi ®: certified and recommended biodegradability and compostability.

Living Chemistry for Quality of Life. www.novamont.com