Representatives of national associations discussing at first BON Europe meeting.

The Bioplastics Organisations Network Europe (BON Europe) is a newly formed collaboration of national bioplastics organisations from across Europe. BON Europe was launched in summer 2015 with the mission to connect initiatives around the bioplastics industry on EU level and in the Member States. The BON Europe partner organisations represent companies that produce, convert or use bioplastics that are biobased, biodegradable or both, as well as upstream and downstream sectors, such as agriculture and waste management. The founding members include: Belgian BioPackaging (Belgium), Club Bio-plastiques (France), Der Verbund kompostierbare Produkte (Germany), Holland Bioplastics (The Netherlands), and Nordisk Bioplastförening (Nordic countries). European Bioplastics (EUBP) acts as the umbrella organisation and coordinates the BON network.

"The main objective of BON Europe is to push for an economically and politically favourable landscape for bioplastics in Europe", says François de Bie, Chairman of European Bioplastics. "This includes promoting legislative measures to encourage market uptake and eco-design of products, equal access as well as use of responsibly sourced renewable raw materials, as well as promoting an efficient waste management infrastructure throughout Europe that supports separate biowaste collection and organic recycling."

With a current production capacity of almost one percent of global plastic production and a growth rate of at least 20 percent per year, bioplastics are an innovative sector that can drive economic development and employment in Europe. Bioplastics can contribute to reduce Europe's dependency on fossil resources and to reduce European greenhouse gas emissions by driving the development of a biobased circular economy.

"Over the coming years, we will work together on answering vital questions and developing joint statements regarding standardisation, sourcing of biomass, end-of-life-options, and sustainability assessment of bioplastics in order to strengthen our position in negotiations and lobbying activities on EU and Member State level and to achieve the best possible progress of the industry", says Hasso von Pogrell, Managing Director of European Bioplastics.

You can find more information in the official announcement on http://en.european-bioplastics.org/press/press-releases/.

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Bio-on, Cristal Union to produce PHA from beet coprodcuts
An agreement signed by Bio-on and Cristal Union will see France’s first facility for the production of PHAs bioplastic from sugarbeet coproducts.

The two companies, operating in sustainable biochemistry and sugar, alcohol and bioethanol production, will work together to build a production site with a 5,000 tons per year output, expandable to 10,000 tons per year.

Requiring a $76.67 million investment, the facility will be located at a Cristal Union site and will be the most advanced biopolymers production site in the world. The new factory will create 50 new jobs specialized in fermentation to produce this revolutionary bioplastic.

PHAs, or polyhydroxyalkanoates, are bioplastics that can replace a number of traditional polymers currently made with petrochemical processes using hydrocarbons. The PHAs developed by Bio-on guarantee the same thermo-mechanical properties with the advantage of being completely naturally biodegradable.

“We are investing in purchasing the license for this new technology developed by Bio-on,” says Cristal Union CEO Alain Commisaire, “because this all-natural bioplastic is an extraordinary tool that can contribute towards the growth of the French sugar industry, but with a modern, eco-compatible and eco-sustainable approach.”

“We will create Europe's first PHAs production facility with France's leading sugar production and trading company,” explains Bio-on S.p.A. Chairman Marco Astorri. “We have granted the first technological license in line with our expectations and will also be creating a cutting-edge collaboration for management and development of the promising high-performing biopolymers business developed by Bio-on S.p.A. and produced in France by Cristal Union.”

The collaboration between Bio-on and Cristal Union reaches an important milestone and adds another building block in the construction of the platform for bioplastic production in the future.

Source: www.biomassmagazine.com

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TerraVerdae BioWorks reaches pilot-scale production for PHA-based biomaterials.
TerraVerdae BioWorks Inc. (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; www.terraverdae.com), an industrial biotechnology company developing advanced bioplastics and environmentally sustainable biomaterials, announced that it has successfully achieved key milestones for the economic, commercial production for its line of biomaterials based on polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). These include 10,000-liter production runs of the firm’s line of biodegradable, natural microspheres for use in personal care and cosmetic products, as a direct replacement for synthetic, non-degradable plastic microbeads.

Supported by a grant from Innovate U.K., and in collaboration with researchers at facilities in the U.K.’s Centre for Process Innovation, TerraVerdae has successfully scaled up its biodegradable and biocompatible materials technology from laboratory pilot scale to 10,000 liter and greater capabilities, validating process scale up and production economics for commercial deployment.

“Developing the technologies needed to produce commercial scale quantities of our biomaterial products in an economic and efficient process is a milestone for the company, and potentially the industry,” said William Bardosh, CEO and founder of TerraVerdae BioWorks. “Our first product developed using this technology, biodegradable and biocompatible microspheres to replace synthetic microbeads in personal care products, addresses a strong global need to remove plastic contamination from water supplies.”

“Innovate U.K. is excited to fund this ambitious and complex project that achieved its final goal of running a large-scale fermentation at the High Value Manufacturing Catapult’s National Industrial Biotechnology Facility,” said Merlin Goldman, Lead Technologist – High Value Manufacturing at Innovate U.K. “TerraVerdae produced significant quantities of purified PHA material for product testing with partners and other potential customers. We hope to see the company complete its ambition of building a biorefinery facility in the North East of the U.K.”

“We are also fortunate to have collaborated on this technology with the UK’s Centre for Process Innovation,” continued Bardosh. “They are one of the world’s leading facilities for process innovation in the industrial bioprocess arena and their support has been invaluable.”

“The project with TerraVerdae has been a great opportunity for us to collaborate with a pioneer in the industry,” said Pete Carney, Business Development Manager at The Centre for Process Innovation. “CPI has used its bioprocessing scaleup expertise to take the process from lab scale to commercialization.’’

TerraVerdae’s natural microspheres are a PHA-based biomaterial produced using a non-GMO, non-toxic, plant-associated process. TerraVerdae’s microspheres are intrinsically biocompatible and meet industry standards for biodegradation in a marine environment. TerraVerdae can produce microspheres in a range of sizes, in both smooth and coarse finishes, that feature high optical clarity and the mechanical characteristics to meet all requirements for cosmetic formulations.