Berlin, 21 September 2017 – In the light of the current debates and consultations on the upcoming EU Strategy on Plastics and the revision of the EU waste legislation, European Bioplastics (EUBP), the association for the bioplastics industry in Europe, echoes the call for greater investments in the implementation of separate recycling streams, made [...]
On 25 January 2017, at the crossroads of several important dossiers and initiatives concerning the Circular Economy Package, Margrete Auken, Member of European Parliament, hosted a breakfast debate on ‘Clarifying biodegradable plastics and how to put them to proper use’. MEP Auken welcomed a delegation of the Congress’ of the Philippines Ecology Committee – [...]
The deployment of EN 13432 certified compostable bags in the source-segregated collection of bio-waste continues to be a hotly debated topic. The City of Milan has set a prominent example of the crucial role compostable bags can play in a waste management system poised to maximise the material use of bio-waste. Several other cities and [...]
The EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste, as modified by the EU Directive on lightweight carrier bags in 2015, tasked the European Commission to adopt specifications for labels of home compostable plastic carrier bags. Accordingly, in June 2016, the Commission asked the relevant European Standardisation Committee, CEN, to develop a standard on home compostable [...]
By Karen Laird, Sustainability Editor at PlasticsToday.com Karen Laird, European/Sustainability Editor, PlasticsToday A report from the United Nations Environment Program, or UNEP, entitled Marine Plastic Debris And Microplastic - Global lessons and research to inspire action and guide policy change recently caused quite a stir in the media – for all the wrong [...]
Since January 2015, separate collection of organic waste is mandatory in Germany. The implementation, however, has been rather slow, and not all municipalities provide separate biowaste collection schemes yet. The German association for compostable products ‘Verbund kompostierbare Produkte e.V.’ therefore recently called for municipalities to implement the separate collection of biowaste and support the [...]
Composting Compostability is a clear benefit when plastic items are mixed with biowaste. Under these conditions, mechanical recycling is not feasible, neither for plastics nor biowaste. The use of compostable plastics makes the mixed waste suitable for organic recycling (composting), enabling the shift from recovery to recycling (a treatment option [...]
Mechanical recycling As most conventional plastics, biobased plastics need to be recycled in separate streams for each material type (e.g. PET-stream). Where a recycling stream for a specific plastic type is established (e.g. PE or PET), the biobased alternatives (bio-PE, bio-PET) can be recycled together with their conventional counterparts. [...]
On 2 December 2015, the European Commission (EC) published the long awaited new Circular Economy Proposal. European Bioplastics (EUBP) welcomes the EC’s proposal and is looking forward to contributing to the debate on how renewable and biodegradable materials can best fit into this vision. "The proposal is an important step towards closing the carbon [...]
Thai PPT to invest $1.1 bln in bioplastics: Thailand's energy firm PTT Pcl said it’s planning to invest 40 billion baht (1.11 billion US Dollar) in bioplastics and environmentally-friendly products from 2014 to 2020. The state-controlled group aims for bioplastics to account for 2 percent of the firm's revenue by 2020. FDCA and [...]