In the current industry there’s a big trend on account of sustainability. Increasingly, we get the demand for sustainable plastics and the use of bioplastics. Bioplastics are available in various types. Bio-based and Bio-degradable are two main types.
Bio-based plastics use organic additives added to a base material. Important to know is that they are still largely based on a “normal” plastic. These are, therefore, not synthetic materials that can be composted, but these are more used in order to make use of more durable materials. During the production of these plastics less fossil fuels is consumed than in another comparable plastic.
Bio-degradable plastics are types that can be processed in nature. This type consists largely of organic components, which guarantees the degradability which therefore is greater than in Bio-based materials. It’s more difficult to process these synthetic materials than Bio-based. Moreover, it is dependent on the composition of the material how this composts. Often these materials are based on corn, cellulose, polylactic acid, or potato starch. One key thing is that the raw materials used to create the Bio-degradable plastics are not part of the food chain. The next generation of bioplastics is therefore largely based on waste material.
There are some standards established regarding composability. The most important / bulky is EN 13432 The standard establishes that 90% of 180 days within a packaging material, should be composted under specified conditions. Moreover, the quality of the compost may not change. The ASTM D6866 standard is to certify the percentage biomaterial per part.
These materials are still in development. Several companies are working hard to improve and update their current products, but also with the current generation of bioplastics, very interesting and beautiful products are created. We would like to invite you to use our expertise in these materials during the development of your product.
