Issue 01/2016

Application News
New biobased
sustainable eyewear
Eyewear company Charmant USA has announced
the launch of Awear, a line of eco-friendly eyeglasses.
Composed of recyclable plant-based biobased plastics,
plus biodegradable demo lenses. Its inaugural collection
of ergonomic eyewear was designed to be lightweight,
fashion-forward and completely eco-friendly.
The brand boasts an unyielding commitment to
environmentally conscious practices, from design to
production. All of the glasses’ frames and sun lenses
are made with sustainable materials – the frames
themselves are created from recyclable plant-based
biobased polyamide. And since the bio-polyamide is
made from a plant-based material, each ergonomically
fitted frame boasts reduced carbon-dioxide emissions
and water use compared with conventional eyewear.
Production is another important factor for the company.
The temple pieces for each pair of glasses (made of a
biobased elastomer material) are hand-assembled,
ultimately making the process more energy efficient. The
frames are also designed with a high-chemical resistant
material that eliminates the need for spray coating pieces,
a factor that reduces overall water usage in production.
Even the demo lenses are biobased and biodegradable
and are made from PLA.
“Awear is different and exceptional from any other
eyewear collection,” Michele Ziss, director of product
and marketing at Charmant, said in a statement. “The
materials and production processes have distinctive
properties and a unique story because they are
environmentally friendly.”
Aimed at style-conscious and environmentally savvy
millennials, Awear debuts this month with seven optical
frames and two styles of sunglasses for men and women.
Yosuke Shimano, the collection’s lead designer,
credited the vivacity of life in the landscapes that
surround him for inspiring the range of translucent yet
saturated colors.
“It is with this concept, that Awear can make an equally
bold style and eco-savvy statement,” the company added. KL
www.awearcharmant.com
PHA for safer toys
Italy-based Bio-on laboratories have created a new type
of bioplastic, designed to make safe and eco-sustainable
children’s toys. Dubbed Minerv PHA Supertoys, the new
material has now been used for the first time for the
manufacture of building bricks.
Based on Bio-on’s biodegradable biopolymer (PHA),
which has already been tested in applications ranging
from automotive to design to biomedical, biobased
Supertoys is safe, and hygienic, and it meets and exceeds
the provisions of the recent European Directive 2009/48/
EC, known as the TDS (Toy Safety Directive), implemented
into the standard international procedure for toy safety
evaluation EN 71.
Bio-On has developed an exclusive process for the
production of a family of PHA polymers from agricultural
waste (including molasses and sugar cane and sugar
beet syrups). Bio-On PHA is certified by Vincotte and by
USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) as 100 %
biobased and completely biodegradable.
The Minerv PHA Supertoys project was launched
by Bio-on with no commercial goal, aiming solely to
demonstrate whether or not specific, eco-sustainable and
completely biodegradable formulations could be created
to manufacture child-safe, environmentally friendly toys,
without compromising on the functionality or aesthetic
appeal of the end product.
“The presence of toxic substances in toys is still a very
serious problem today,” says Bio-on S.p.A. Chairman
Marco Astorri. “We are convinced that this new discovery
can make a decisive contribution to the health of our
children.”
The first product chosen as the demonstrator for the
new material was a LEGO ® -style building bricks. Astorri
explained that the company had chosen this product,
because of the relative difficulty in producing it. “It has a
tolerance of 2 µm and the fact that we have succeeded in
guaranteeing such a high quality level gives us confidence
for future developments,” he said.
The research project is open to all laboratories and
companies around the world working on toy design. The
goal is to create two types of bioplastic by the end of 2017:
Minerv PHA Supertoys type R, a rigid, strong grade, and
Minerv PHA Supertoys type F, which will be ductile and
flexible. KL/MT
www.bio-on.it
28 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/16] Vol. 11