Bioplastics 2013: Building a biobased future for Europe

Bioplastics offer at least the same performance as conventional plastics and, beyond that, feature a unique potential to reduce a products’ environmental impact. Mature, available, in high demand, and easy to dispose-of and recover – bioplastics are an important part of Europe’s biobased future. Latest perfor- mance trends, material innovations, as well as experiences from beyond Europe will be discussed on 10 and 11 December 2013 at the 8th European Bioplastics Conference in Berlin, the leading industry event in Europe.

This year’s keynote speeches will be held by Dr. Pipat Weerathaworn (Thai Bioplastic Industry Association, PTT Global Chemical Company Ltd), giving an overview of the development of the Thai bioplastics industry, and Professor Matthias Finkbeiner (Technische Universität Ber- lin), who will present options for sustainability assessment of biobased applications.

In more than 25 up to date presentations, companies, scientists, and policy makers will cover the following sessions: “bioplastics materials”, “bioplastics in the automotive industry”, “bio- plastics for brands”, “end-of-life”, and “sustainability of bioplastics”.

One of the first presentations of this year’s conference will be the annual market data update of European Bioplastics, which will be presented by the Institute for Bioplastics and Biocom- posites (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover, Germany).

Further highlights amongst the outlined sessions are the presentations by Italian API, Germany-based Uhde Inventa-Fischer, and a panel discussion regarding sustainability assessment of bioplastics. API will provide insights into its cooperation with the globally known sports brand PUMA regarding an already commercially available fully biodegradable basketball shoe. Uhde Inventa-Fischer will present new data on the development of PLA in the fibers market. And a panel of industry and NGO experts will discuss sustainability aspects of bioplastics, including the choice of sustainable feedstock, as well as existing and upcoming assessment schemes.

As every year, the Bioplastics Magazine will present the ‚Annual Global Bioplastics Award’. Applicants are invited to submit products, services or developments. Further information is available at www.bioplasticsmagazine.de/award.

The conference will be enhanced by an adjoining product exhibition and a new partnering tool that will facilitate networking opportunities throughout the conference days. The partnering tool will be available for all registered participants approximately six weeks prior to the con- ference.

“The 8th European Bioplastics Conference will once again provide the most efficient opportunity within Europe to network with heads of the bioplastics industry and to gain an overview of the current situation in the industry,” says Hasso von Pogrell, Managing Director of European Bioplastics.

Further information on the event is available at: http://en.european-bioplastics.org/conference/.