Can the Bioeconomy Deliv­er Solu­tions for the Glob­al Micro­plastic Problem?

Can the sub­sti­tu­tion of con­ven­tion­al mater­i­als with bio­de­grad­able and bio-based mater­i­als be a pos­sible solu­tion for cer­tain applic­a­tions when the release of plastic into the envir­on­ment can­not be avoided?

Show­cas­ing solutions

Com­pan­ies from all over the world will show­case their bio­de­grad­able and bio-based solu­tions at the upcom­ing inter­na­tion­al con­fer­ence Micro­plastic in the Envir­on­ment – Sources, Impacts & Solu­tions, Mater­nush­aus, Cologne, Ger­many, 23 — 24 Novem­ber 2015. The applic­a­tions include bio­de­grad­able microbeads for cos­met­ics and body care products (Mango Mater­i­als, US; Omya Inter­na­tion­al CH; CFF, DE; CEL­LUTECH, SE; J. Rett­en­maier & Söhne, DE and Ter­raVer­dae BioWorks, CA), nat­ur­al and man-made cel­lu­losic fibres (Len­z­ing, AT), bio­de­grad­able mulch films (BASF, DE), com­postable fruit stick­ers (Bio4Life, NL), bio-based and bio­de­grad­able tree pro­tect­or tubes (FKuR, DE) and bio­de­grad­able pack­aging solu­tions (PT Inter Aneka Lestari, ID). More com­pan­ies are invited to join the con­fer­ence and exhib­i­tion! At the con­fer­ence the concept of bio­de­grad­a­tion of bio-based plastics in con­trast to the frag­ment­a­tion of non-bio­de­grad­able plastics and oxo-frag­ment­able plastics will be intro­duced in detail. Fur­ther­more, it will be dis­cussed which stand­ards and labels are avail­able for bio­de­grad­able plastics in dif­fer­ent envir­on­ments. Chris­ti­an Bon­ten (Uni­ver­sity of Stut­tgart, DE) will dis­cuss the degrad­a­tion of plastics. Jan Raven­stijn (Jan Raven­stijn Con­sult­ing, NL) will speak about the func­tion­al­ity and applic­a­tion of bio­de­grad­able and bio-based plastics. Bruno de Wilde (OWS, BE) will give sci­entif­ic evid­ence on the degrad­a­tion of bio-based plastics in dif­fer­ent envir­on­ments. Labelling of mar­ine bio­de­grad­able products will be presen­ted by Petra Michiels (OK com­post Vinçotte, BE). The com­pre­hens­ive pro­gramme of the con­fer­ence on sources, impacts and solu­tions is online avail­able: http://​micro​plastic​-con​fer​ence​.eu/​p​r​o​g​ramme.

About the nova-Institute

nova-Insti­tute is a private and inde­pend­ent insti­tute, foun­ded in 1994; nova offers research and con­sultancy with a focus on bio-based and CO₂-based eco­nomy in the fields of feed­stock, techno-eco­nom­ic eval­u­ation, mar­kets, LCA, dis­sem­in­a­tion, B2B com­mu­nic­a­tion and policy. Today, nova-Insti­tute has 25 employ­ees and an annu­al turnover of more than 2 mil­lion €. Source: nova-Insti­tute GmbH