Issue 06/2018

Bioplastics from waste streams
Valorizing
Plant pots
Biodegradable plastic pipe (Heijmans)
Rodenburg Biopolymers’ activities started in 1945,
trading plant-derived products for various industries.
Soon Arie Rodenburg added side stream
activities, by buying defects from potato sorters. This
was when the long-term relationship with potato side
streams started. Who would have known that a forage
business would turn into Bioplastics half a century later?
Collaboration
In the 1960’s, Rodenburg started working together
with French Fry Factories and pioneered in collecting
and valorizing industrial side streams. Rodenburg was
characterized by tight collaborations and innovation
on every step in the value chain. At the beginning of
the chain, the processes of the factories needed to
be adjusted to make the collection of side streams
possible. Rodenburg introduced new innovative
processing techniques, like grinding the steam peels.
At the end of the chain, Rodenburg created a market
for its products and revolutionized the forage industry.
This was also the start of its R&D activities. The various
side streams were split and tested for optimal results
on different cattle species. Aaik Rodenburg recalled:
“We partnered up and started a bull farming business
to raise top quality cattle on our side stream products.
This way we could optimize the valorization processes
and show our customers excellent quality meat.”
During these decades Rodenburg built the bedrock
and the fundamentals for the business. Collaboration
and innovation are still King for success at Rodenburg
Biopolymers.
Innovation
In the year 2000, Aaik Rodenburg made a turnaround
to Biodegradable polymers, in cooperation
with Wageningen ATO (Food and Biobased Research).
Building further on the essence of the company; the
valorization of co-products and waste streams. An
intensive period of R&D followed, with many obstacles
to overcome. Resulting in various certified and awardwinning
biodegradable products. For example, the
biobased packaging material for Mars’ candy bars,
awarded with the 11th Global Bioplastics Award by
bioplastics MAGAZINE.
These innovations took time, flexibility and continuous
improvement. “We were so proud to produce our first,
biodegradable plant pots,” Aaik recounted. “During
the opening of our new factory, we handed out dozens
of those with a flower in it. Unfortunately, the product
appeared to evoke a special reaction from dogs; diggingup
the pots and ruin the gardens. Other uncalculated
side-effects were the increasing odor over time and the
violets changing their color. Apparently, the protein in
the potato was the culprit.”
Biodegradable plastic pipe (Heijmans)
Drawing from this anecdote, it shows the persistence
and grit needed to achieve the desired products,
24 bioplastics MAGAZINE [06/18] Vol. 13