Bioplastics News from Americas

Development of new biodegradable foam plastic material from milk protein and clay

The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) award-winning podcast series, "Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions," focuses on development of a new ultra-light biodegradable foam plastic material made from two unlikely ingredients: The protein in milk and ordinary clay.

The material could be used in numerous products, researchers report in the ACS' Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal. The finding comes amid ongoing concern about plastic waste accumulating in municipal landfills, and reliance on imported oil to make plastics.

• Continue reading • Comments (0) 07.02.2011. 00:38

Bioplastics leader forms North American company

Novamont S.p.A, a worldwide leader in bioplastics and compostable materials, expands its presence in North America with a new company Novamont North America, Inc. headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut.

Novamont is an international company based in Italy, with operations across Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. Novamont has strongly contributed to the development of the composting industry in North America, including the formation of the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). “The North American composting market has grown significantly in the past decade, and is now ready to make a big step forward due to higher environmental sensitivity, and increased attention on the economics of waste diversion,” says Tony Gioffre, President of Novamont North America. Gioffre is the former President of BPI, and remains active as a BPI board member.

• Continue reading • Comments (0) 07.02.2011. 00:26

Panacea Bioplastics set new industry standard for performance

Biobent Polymers, a new division of global plastics manufacturer Univenture, today launched its Panacea family of bioplastics. The new bio-composite is the industry's first bioplastic resin to maintain the characteristics of the base plastic material while replacing up to 40% of the petroleum normally used in plastics manufacturing. The award-winning technology behind Panacea was developed by Battelle Memorial Institute with funding from the Ohio Soybean Council, and licensed exclusively to Univenture, an innovative manufacturer of eco-friendly plastic packaging and products. The announcement was made by Keith Masavage, Chief of Strategy and Operations at Univenture.

The first two products which Biobent will offer, Panacea PP and Panacea PE, are polypropylene and polyethylene based products that will be priced competitively in the bioplastics market. Most bioplastics are significantly more expensive than their petroleum derived counterparts, but this will not be the case for the Panacea products. The innovative process used to make the Panacea line is capable of blending traditional thermoplastics with a low cost, unrefined agricultural co-product - soy meal. The net result is high performing bio-composite materials with a cost structure competitive with purely petroleum derived plastics.

• Continue reading • Comments (0) 07.02.2011. 00:17

Casey secures second order from US bottled water firm for supply of biodegradable plastic bottle pre

Casey Container Corporation, an Arizona-based designer and custom manufacturer of biodegradable PET, HDPE & other plastic polymer preforms, bottles and containers, has received a new purchase order from a US based bottled water company to supply about 225,000 biodegradable preforms on a weekly basis over a year period, for use in the manufacture of biodegradable plastic bottles.

• Continue reading • Comments (0) 08.12.2010. 23:17

Lather launches hotel amenities in biodegradable packaging

LATHER, the LA-based personal care and hotel amenities company, has begun offering its bath and shower amenities in biodegradable plastic packaging.

Drawing on a new additive called EcoPure, packaging will be able to biodegrade within a landfill and be turned into new plastic products when recycled. This new initiative earned LATHER a Star of the Industry Award for “Technology Innovator of the Year,” from the California branch of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (CH&LA). LATHER is the inaugural winner of this award for the state of California, and the first vendor to win a Star of the Industry Award.

• Continue reading • Comments (0) 08.12.2010. 23:16