Biopolymers-PHA – Plastic-waste 13-05-2022 - Arhive

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Biopolymers-PHA – Plastic-waste

-Stora Enso strengthens its presence in France and invests in French wood processing

Stora Enso invests in ACDF Industrie SAS and becomes a 35% shareholder of the French wood processing company. The investment is in line with Stora Enso’s growth strategy for mass timber building elements, enabling value-added, bespoke CLT (cross-laminated timber) solutions to its long-term French partners.

ACDF Industrie SAS works with all engineered wood products like CLT, Glulam and LVL (laminated veneer lumber) and manufactures them into various value-added products such as walls, floors or roof elements for residential and non-residential buildings, mainly for the French market.

‘France is one of our priority markets for growth, with building regulations favouring sustainable, renewable materials and low carbon property development. This investment builds on Stora Enso’s capacity to produce CLT and LVL near sustainably managed forests, and ACDF Industrie’s readiness to further process our wood products into walls, floors and roofs near construction sites all over France. This partnership strengthens our market reach and position as a leading global provider of sustainable engineered wood products,’ says Lars Volkel, Executive Vice President, Stora Enso’s Wood Products division. Biopolymers-PHA – Plastic-waste

ACDF Industrie SAS’ investment in a second production line is developing according to plan. It will increase the capacity of mass timber elements and it will be ready in February 2023.

Biopolymers-PHA - Plastic-waste

-Russia’s GDP this year will fall by 12% – Bloomberg learned the forecast of the Ministry of Finance

The Finance Ministry expects Russia’s GDP to fall by 12% this year, Forbes reported, citing Bloomberg.

This is the largest decline in the country’s economy since 1994. If this forecast comes true, it will negate economic growth in about 10 years.

“The main negative factors are the oil embargo, the EU’s refusal of Russian gas, as well as the growing number of foreign companies leaving Russia,” explained Natalia Lavrova, chief economist at BCS. She expects that the negative consequences of current events will be transferred to 2023. If we build a forecast based only on the current sanctions, then the reduction in GDP this year will be 10.8%, and next year – about 5%, she said. Biopolymers-PHA – Plastic-waste

According to the baseline forecast of the Central Bank, in 2022 GDP will decline by 8-10%, the Accounts Chamber expects a drop in GDP from 8.8% to 12.4%, the World Bank in the April forecast suggested that the Russian economy in 2022 will shrink by 11.2%, and economists believe that the decline will be 10.3%.

If the Treasury Department’s forecast turns out to be accurate, it will negate about a decade of economic growth.

Biopolymers-PHA - Plastic-waste

-CJ Bio launches PHA production in Pasuruan, Indonesia

CJ Bio, a division of South Korea-based CJ CheilJedang, has begun manufacturing PHA biopolyester at a newly commissioned facility located in Pasuruan, Indonesia, the company has announced.

With a rated capacity of 5,000 tonnes, the new facility will exclusively produce ‘amorphous’ PHAs (a-PHAs). Amorphous PHA , which has a low glass transition temperature (Tg), is a soft, rubbery version of PHA that offers fundamentally different performance opportunities than crystalline or semi-crystalline forms of PHA.

This material will be used as a modifier for other polymers and biopolymers to improve functional characteristics and biodegradability.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates are linear polyesters produced in nature through bacterial fermentation of sugars or lipids. They occur naturally in living cells from a 5-10% rate, which gives PHAs their excellent biodegradability. CJ BIO can increase PHA content up to 85% through bacterial strain and proprietary fermentation technology. The company employs advanced downstream technology for the extraction of PHA components and for the manufacture of specific products.

The technology also has the potential to develop building blocks for other performance materials made from non-fossil fuel sources. With the company’s first commercial production facility up and running a, CJ Bio shipped its first material in April of this year. Biopolymers-PHA – Plastic-waste

This new PHA manufacturing facility in Pasuruan is the culmination of decades of work that started at the company Metabolix in the early 2000s and which CJ Bio has been improving since it acquired Metabolix biopolymer assets in 2016. The company will continue to work of further expansion plans.

Biopolymers-PHA - Plastic-waste

-Stora Enso – Your questions answered: designing food packaging beyond plastics

Consumers have high sustainability expectations for brand-owners’ food packaging, and they are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products. These are two findings from a recent study we conducted among European consumers on their attitudes toward food packaging materials, recycling behaviors, and expectations they have for brand-owners. Biopolymers-PHA – Plastic-waste

We shared some of these insights during our webinar ‘Designing food packaging beyond plastics: what do consumers want?’ where we brought Stora Enso’s experts together for a conversation on packaging sustainability and design. The discussion is valuable especially for brand-owners who would be interested in improving packaging sustainability by switching from non-renewable materials to renewable, fiber-based alternatives. If you were not able to attend, a recording of the webinar is available here.

We received plenty of thoughtful feedback from viewers, and in this article, we will answer a few of the common questions from you.

We are interested in fiber-based packaging, but we want to ensure that we will have sufficient material supply. How can we be sure that we will have continuous access your products?

The supply situation for our materials remains relatively stable and we are confident there is enough wood fiber for our current uses. We continue to work to ensure the availability of the right kind of wood in different parts of the world, use recycled fibers and optimize our board-making capacity and output from raw materials. Further, we are continuously looking forward to increasing our production capacity to further ensure supply for brand-owners looking to make the switch to fiber-based materials. Biopolymers-PHA – Plastic-waste

Biopolymers-PHA - Plastic-waste

-Europe’s plastic recycling volume growing, says group

Plastics Recyclers Europe says plastic recycling capacity is growing at an impressive pace in the EU.

Brussels-based trade association Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) says the plastic recycling industry in the European Union (EU) is continuing “fast-paced efforts toward reaching the EU targets,” with “new figures for installed plastics recycling capacities” revealing a 13 percent growth rate.

The total installed plastics recycling capacity in 2020 in the EU27 nations (plus three nations adhering to EU regulations) grew by 1.1 metric tons compared with the previous year’s installed capacity. Biopolymers-PHA – Plastic-waste

“The new figures show that the plastics recycling industry remains resilient while continuing its path toward making plastics genuinely circular,” states PRE. Growth in the sector, despite the difficulties brought on by the pandemic, was possible “thanks to the booming demand driven, among others, by the new legislative targets,” adds PRE.

Europe’s plastic recycling volume growing, says group

-New York recycling legislation aims to increase collection rates, PCR supply

EPR bill considered toughest in nation

Companies would reduce packaging by 50%

Two plastic packaging bills were recently introduced in New York state that, if passed, would raise the supply of recycled plastics, reduce waste and incentivize companies to use more sustainable packaging.

The first bill, AB A10185, would establish an extended producer responsibility, or EPR, program, which aims to increase collection rates and in turn the supply of recycled materials, by shifting some packaging end-of-life management burdens from consumers and governments to industry. Biopolymers-PHA – Plastic-waste

“The EPR bill puts the responsibility from cradle to grave on manufacturers as they will take responsibility for the eventual recycling or reuse” of packaging, Englebright said at a May 10 press conference. “[Plastic packaging] goes out the door of the manufacturing facility, and they never think about it again. But we … have higher taxes and compromised health.”

Key features of the bill include requiring companies to gradually reduce their packaging by 50% over 10 years through more sustainable packaging design, switching to reuse/refill systems, and/or eliminating excess packaging altogether

Companies would also be required to transition 90% of their remaining packaging over 12 years to be recyclable, compostable or made from recycled content. In all new packaging, certain materials will be banned, including PFAS, heavy metals, and non-recyclable plastics such as PVC and polystyrene.

Also, packaging producers would be required to pay fees to the program, which will be determined via a structure that provides incentives to producers that seek to reduce waste at the source and adopt more sustainable packaging designs and practices. Charges will also be adjusted based on the percentage of post-consumer content, which producers will be required to specify on packaging products.

The bill specifies that the definition of post-consumer resin should not include any material sourced from energy recovery or “generated by means of combustion, incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, solvolysis, chemical recycling and any high-heat or chemical conversion process.”

Europe’s plastic recycling volume growing, says group

Biopolymers-PHA – Plastic-waste

Plastics-Recycling – Biotechnology 12-05-2022