Issue 06/2018

Application AutomotiveNews
Peeling milk with P3HB
In October 2018, the Czech companies NAFIGATE
Cosmetics and NAFIGATE Corporation launched a
new product - Coconut shower peeling milk, in which
microbeads are replaced with Hydal P3HB. The whole
new cosmetics eco-design concept received the name
Dedicated to You and Nature in order
to express its biodegradability and
biocompatibility. Hence, coconut shower
peeling milk represents a circular
revolution in the cosmetics industry. It
is fully biodegradable, waste-free and
harmless to nature.
Microplastics are solid plastic beads of
less than five millimetres. In cosmetics,
they are used as peeling particles in the form of polyethylene
microbeads of less than one millimetre in their largest
dimension that peel off dead skin cells. Once microbeads
are washed off from skin, they get into water, where they
do not biodegrade. Microbeads can cause plastic water
pollution and be harmful to aquatic life because wastewater
treatment plants cannot capture such small particles.
According to various research studies including the results
of the Institute of Hydrodynamics of the Czech Academy of
Sciences, drinking water also contains microplastics.
P3HB biopolymer is processed by the unique Czech
biotechnology HYDAL, which as the first in the world on
industrial scale uses 100 % waste in the
form of waste cooking oil (WCO). Hydal
P3HB is added in the shower peeling milk
in the form of white particles, replacing the
abrasive function of microbeads. Unlike other
abrasive materials utilized in cosmetics,
biopolymer’s properties, such as sharpness
or size, may be modified. In addition, P3HB
as a pure chemical substance allows meeting
the highest hygienist cosmetics standards.
In contrast to other substances, it dissolves in water
completely. According to the company’s tests, biopolymer
biodegrades in wastewater treatment plant within several
days, in the open environment up to several dozen days. It
does not harm nature and provides a solution to one of the
most serious challenges in the cosmetics industry. MT
www.lagranda.it | www.braskem.com
New bio shoe line
Leading global barefoot footwear company
VIVOBAREFOOT, headquartered in London, UK, recently
announced the launch of its new Bio shoe range featuring
Primus Lite Bio, plant-based performance sneakers.
Designed with outdoor performance in mind, the Bio range is
made from a combination of three innovative bio-based
materials that reduce reliance on petrochemicals
and ultimately create more efficient and sustainable
products. Each shoe in Vivobarefoot’s new line is
nearly 50 % plant-based, making it Vivobarefoot’s
latest stride in their quest to use 90 % sustainable
materials across its entire product range by 2020.
The materials used in new Primus Lite Bio
range are produced by DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio
Products, a joint venture between DuPont, a
global science innovator, and Tate & Lyle, a worldleading
renewable food and industrial ingredients
company. Through the use of these renewable, highperformance
materials, Vivobarefoot is able to make
a significant impact on the planet. Every 50,000 pairs of
shoes produced using these materials, equates to saving
greenhouse gas emissions from 247,948 miles driven by an
average passenger vehicle or reducing CO 2
emissions from
11,286 gallons of gasoline consumed.
“We are trying to make a significant impact through
working with game changing brands like Vivobarefoot who
are committed to producing products with fantastic technical
performance and improved sustainability profiles,” stated
Laurie Kronenberg, global marketing director at DuPont
Tate & Lyle Bio Products. “In working with Vivobarefoot on
optimizing their plant-based content throughout the shoe
using various Sorona PTT fiber and Susterra bio-PDObased
solutions it allowed us to model the environmental
reductions in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and
nonrenewable energy on a raw material basis. Now that is
impactful.”
Seventh-generation shoemakers Galahad and Asher Clark
are firm believers that barefoot shoe-making is sustainable
shoe making. The company has already pioneered shoes
made of repurposed algae (Ultra 3 BLOOM) with
each pair recirculating 215 litres of fresh water
back into the natural habitats, and an Eco range
made of 50 % recycled plastic. In 2017, Vivobarefoot
diverted over 2 million plastic bottles from landfills
into barefoot shoes.
“Sustainability is at the core of Vivobarefoot’s
mission and we believe that the perfect shoe has
minimal interference with natural movement and
minimal impact on the environment,” said Asher
Clark, design director at Vivobarefoot. “The new
Primus Bio line champions the future of sustainable
materials and the new opportunities they bring to the
footwear industry.”
The Vivobarefoot Bio range will include the hero
performance shoes Magna Trail Bio, Primus Trail Bio,
Primus Lite Bio and Ultra Bio shoes. The Primus Lite Bio
shoes for example will be available at www.vivobarefoot.
com/us starting June 2019 and priced from $120 to $160. MT
www.vivobarefoot.com/us
36 bioplastics MAGAZINE [06/18] Vol. 13