Issue 04/2023

ioplastics MAGAZINE [04/23] Vol. 18
5
From 100 to 1 – the start of a new era
Bioplastics MAGAZINE has been an established source of
information about and for the bioplastics industry for over 15
years. The global trade journal was for a long time focused
exclusively on bioplastics (i.e. biobased and/or biodegradable
and compostable plastics). Now, with its 100 th edition, the
magazine will rebrand to “Renewable Carbon Plastics”
starting with the current issue.
Plastic materials are indispensable for our current modern
society. While some applications could be replaced with other
materials, e.g. steel, wood, or glass, it is not possible in many
areas – and often, even if possible, not advisable. Plastics are
great materials due to their light weight, their mouldability
into almost any shape imaginable, and their low cost.
However, the last point of low cost has come at a price.
Plastic pollution and the contribution to global warming are
the result of decades of callous mismanagement on a global
scale. We all know the pathetically low recycling rates by now,
showing a huge end-of-life problem. The beginning of life of
most plastic materials isn’t much better as they are made
from fossil-based resources, be it oil, gas, or coal, and their
negative environmental impact.
Plastics made from biogenic sources (crops or waste
streams) can be a great alternative. There has been a
plethora of inventions and developments that the editorial
team of bioplastics MAGAZINE never worried about having
enough content. However, we also recognized that these raw
materials are not the only possible alternative.
The main objective is to avoid the new excavation of fossil
resources from the ground. So, in addition to using biogenic
resources, plastics made from direct carbon capture
(CCU = Carbon Capture & Utilisation) is another viable way to
avoid new fossil resources being used. Here carbon dioxide
(CO 2
) from the atmosphere or exhaust processes or methane
(C 2
H 4
) e.g. from biogasification, can be used to make plastic
raw materials. Another alternative is certainly recycling,
which has seen a revival of sorts in recent years.
That is why the editorial team of bioplastics MAGAZINE
started about two years ago to broaden their scope of topics
into plastics made from CCU and from Advanced Recycling.
The latter comprises technologies such as chemical recycling,
enzyme-based recycling, solvent-based recycling and the
like. Together with the well-established topic of bioplastics,
it completed the concept of renewable carbon in plastics.
So, it comes as no surprise that the team behind
bioplastics MAGAZINE has decided to change the title of the
publication, as with this expanding range of topics, the
name "bioplastics MAGAZINE" didn’t ring true any longer.
This lead to the new name of the publication – "Renewable
Carbon Plastics – RCP". The milestone of the 100 th edition
of bioplastics MAGAZINE seemed like a natural starting point
for this transformation. From 100 to 1, this issue is both the
100 th issue of bioplastics MAGAZINE as well as the first issue of
“Renewable Carbon Plastics”. Content-wise, not much will
change, as we have already been reporting about all renewable
carbon sources for plastics for a couple of years now.
“We all know that bioplastics won’t be able to solve the
problems we are facing by themselves”, says Alex Thielen,
new Editor-in-Chief of RCP and son of founder Michael
Thielen, “but cooperation and a combination of technologies
will lead to the change we all hope to see – the name change
is supposed to represent that philosophy”.
www.renewable-carbon-plastics.com
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