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Markets and Products 18
Ecoflex ® for the bag from the fertile fields
The use of biodegradable materials has increased greatly throughout the world, but
in Germany, overregulation prevents their widespread introduction onto the market.
Europe is a union now. Not only
politically but also, to an increasing
extent, in terms of the consumption
behavior of the population. Bioproducts,
for instance, are becoming more
and more popular, particularly among consumers
in the Netherlands, Great Britain
and France, now that their bioproducts
come in biodegradable and compostable
packaging. The building blocks of such
packaging are resource-saving and CO2 neutral renewable raw materials stemming
from agriculture. This packaging acquires
its functionality from the combination of
renewable raw materials with biodegradable
substances on the basis of synthetic
raw materials such as BASF’s Ecoflex ® . “A
biodegradable composite made of starch
or polylactic acid obtained from corn or
potatoes together with Ecoflex ® greatly
improves films and packaging so that their
enhanced functionality will make them suitable
for more applications,” explains Dirk
Stärke, product manager for Ecoflex ® at
BASF.
Successful
pilot project
However, what is a reality in many European
countries is still a far-off dream for
German consumers. In Germany, excessive
legislation on packaging, biowaste
and fertilizers regulates the use and reutilization
of compostable packaging, with
the result that
nothing gets
done in this
labyrinth of regulations.
Even
the successful
implementation
of a model project
in the city of
Kassel did not do a bit of good. In this the packaging regulations with the objec-
experiment, the organizers, funded by tive of increasing the sales and, thus, the
government subsidies, studied the use of use of renewable raw materials.
biopackaging in actual practice, thereby In order to facilitate the market introduction
confirming that this packaging can be col- while at the same time improving the funclected
and utilized without any problem. tionality of biodegradable materials, the
Consumers responded particularly posi- German Farmer’s Association and the Gertively
to biodegradable packaging. And man Association of the Chemical Industry
now, it seems that the path might be clear are objecting to the statutory stipulations
for bioplastics in Germany as well.
pertaining to the raw material base of
“Bioplastics made of corn, potatoes or cel- biodegradable materials. For instance, with
lulose are on the threshold of a very prom- their requirement that biodegradable packising
future,” explains Matthias Berninger, aging materials have to “consist primarily
state secretary at the German Ministry for of renewable raw materials”, these regula-
Consumer Affairs, at the same time revealtions run counter to the objective of proing
that a major hurdle to their widespread moting the market introduction of renew-
introduction could soon be eliminated.
“The German government supports the
able raw materials.
approach of exempting bioplastics from Approval of Ecoflex
the Green Dot in the future,” elaborates
Berninger. Manufacturers of biodegradable
plastics have now found a prominent
advocate in the German Farmer’s Association.
In a statement issued jointly with the
German Association of the Chemical
Industry, farmers are calling for a change in
® Ecoflex
for food
products in the United States
The parties involved are confident that,
over the long run, the costs for biopackaging
will also drop as these materials enjoy
more widespread use. For instance, the
raw material costs for renewable raw
® is certified in the United States …,