Bioplastics pro­duc­tion capa­cit­ies to grow by more than 400% by 2018

The data com­piled in cooper­a­tion with its respec­ted sci­entif­ic part­ners – the IfBB – Insti­tute for Bioplastics and Biocom­pos­ites (Uni­ver­sity of Applied Sci­ences and Arts Han­nov­er, Ger­many — IBB net­work mem­ber) and the nova-Insti­tute (Hürth, Ger­many — also IBB net­work mem­ber) – shows that bioplastics pro­duc­tion capa­city is set to increase from around 1.6 mil­lion tonnes in 2013 to approx­im­ately 6.7 mil­lion tonnes by 2018. Biobased, non-bio­de­grad­able plastics, such as biobased PE and biobased PET, are gain­ing the most. PLA is a major growth driver in the field of biobased and bio­de­grad­able plastics. Fur­ther­more, renew­able and com­postable plastics pro­duced loc­ally are likely to bene­fit from the new EU dir­ect­ive on the reduc­tion of shop­ping bags. Flex­ible and rigid pack­aging remains by far the lead­ing applic­a­tion field for bioplastics. ​“Besides this, a decis­ive growth can be observed in tex­tiles and auto­mot­ive applic­a­tions. From func­tion­al sports gar­ments with enhanced breath­ab­il­ity to fuel lines – bioplastics are con­stantly spread­ing into new mar­kets,” explained de Bie. With a view to region­al capa­city devel­op­ment, Asia will expand its role as major pro­duc­tion hub. Most of the cur­rently planned pro­jects are being imple­men­ted in Thai­l­and, India and China. About 75 per­cent of bioplastics will be pro­duced in Asia by 2018. In com­par­is­on: Europe at the fore­front of research and devel­op­ment will be left with only roughly 8 per­cent of the pro­duc­tion capa­cit­ies. Addi­tion­ally, oth­er regions of the world, such as the USA and Asia, invest into meas­ures ​‘closer to mar­ket intro­duc­tion’, which res­ults in a faster mar­ket devel­op­ment than in Europe. ​“We urge the EU legis­lat­ors to con­sider and make effi­cient use of the immense envir­on­ment­al, eco­nom­ic growth and job cre­ation poten­tial of our industry. In this con­text, the Cir­cu­lar Eco­nomy Pack­age should remain in the Commission’s 2015 Work Pro­gramme and the Waste Tar­get Review should pro­ceed as planned,” con­cluded de Bie. Quelle: European Bioplastics e.V.