bioplasticsMAGAZINE_0904

Photo: European Bioplastics
dear
readers
Guest Editorial
As in the last years, bioplastics MAGAZINE carries reports about the latest bottle applications in the most
thirsty period of the year, which points to the fact that from year to year we see considerable progress in this
sector. In this issue for example, bioplastics MAGAZINE spoke with Primo Water about their developments,
and reports about Naturally Iowa’s achievements for the introduction of PLA bottles.
So, producers and users are obviously making good progress with regard to the technical and environmental
performance of such bottles. Yet a few questions seem to require further attention. For example, we still
need to define and implement ‘best practice’ for the end of life (or let’s better say, re-use and recovery) of
bioplastic bottles. In the technical community for example, the influence of PLA on the recycling of PET is
still under discussion. This is quite understandable, as the PET recycling industry needs to secure their well
established business and they need to evaluate the potential influence of any other materials, such as PVC,
clarified PP or PLA. The findings of NatureWorks, which are documented in this issue, are a very important
contribution to this discussion. Such studies will certainly support dialogue and confidence building. The
PET industry seems anyway more than interested in learning about PLA. They know perfectly well what it
means to introduce a new material to existing markets and to manage the various questions (all coming
at the same time), because they lived through this some 20 years ago. Looking at their experiences we will
realise that the technical sorting of the bottles is one of the core issues, and we also need to find out what
happens along the whole recovery chain. Will at least a considerable share of the bottles find their way
into sorting plants? This is the question about the existence and availability of collection systems… Will all
sorting plants, dependent on their geography, be equipped with NIR detection? Can mixing
of the different material streams destined for recycling safely be avoided? Regardless
of such questions, the goal of developing the recycling of PLA and other bioplastics is
very promising and the industry is certainly on the right track. It will be further helpful to
team up with the PET recycling industry with the aim of achieving good separation of the
material streams and, by the way, also for clarification of the influences of the so-called
‘oxo-degradable’ PET bottles (please see NAPCOR’s advice on page 28).
A further editorial focus in this issue is the question of ‘Land use for production of
Bioplastics’. Obviously the existence of hunger in this world is not caused by bioplastics, but
rather by factors such as distribution, logistics and politics. On the other hand, increasing
the demands placed on agricultural resources needs careful consideration of the market
mechanisms in order to ensure that our industry will deliver sustainable solutions also in
terms of social responsibility. Interesting approaches concerning resource supply can be
found in the reports about algae and potato-waste streams as potential sources.
We wish all readers an enjoyable holiday season – with not too many algae in your
swimming water …
Yours,
Joeran Reske
Joeran Reske is Manager Bioplastics at Interseroh, a leading supplier
of secondary raw materials in Europe. Joeran is also Vice Chairman of
European Bioplastics
bioplastics MAGAZINE [06/08] Vol. 3