Poland may become an important bioplastics market

California-based manufacturer Cereplast has announced an agreement with BioWorks Pl to supply bioplastic resins to the Polish market.

“In 2011, Poland has the potential to become a multi-million dollar bioplastics market and this partnership enables us to capture substantial marketshare,” Frederic Scheer, founder, chairman and CEO of Cereplast, said in a statement.

Bioplastic resins are used to produce bio-based plastic, an increasingly popular alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastic among European industries and consumers.

According to the European Bioplastics association, annual growth of the bioplastics sector is considerably higher than 20 percent and could potentially comprise between five to 10 percent of the total European plastics market.

Poland is seen an important partner in helping to meet this demand.

“The Western European market for bioplastics continues to grow at a strong pace and Poland plays a critical role in this growth,” said Norbert Zimnik, chairman of BioWorks Pl.

But the Polish market might not be ready to deal with bioplastics products on a large scale yet.

According to Hanna Żakowska, head of packaging R&D at the Polish Packaging Research and Development Center (COBRO), the absence of a national collection system for bio-waste constitutes a major obstacle.

Higher costs than regular plastics also constitute a major drawback that prevents Polish producers to switching en masse to greener packaging.

“The Polish bioplastics market is still very small, but in a few years when collecting bio-waste becomes easier, there will be better possibilities,” commented Ms Żakowska.

07.02.2011. 00:30

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