BIOPLASTICS
Eight consumer goods giants come together with WWF to drive sustainable plant-based feedstock development / Establish Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance
To ensure the future of the bioplastics industry worldwide, US-based consumer goods giants Coca-Cola Company (Atlanta, Georgia; www.thecoca-colacompany.com), Ford (Dearborn, Michigan; www.ford.com), H.J. Heinz Company (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; www.heinz.com), Nike (Beaverton, Oregon; www.nikeinc.com), Procter & Gamble (P&G, Cincinnati, Ohio; www.pg.com) and Unilever (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; www.unilever.com) have joined forces with Nestle (Vevey / Switzerland; www.nestle.com), Danone (Paris / France; www.danone.com) as well as the World Wildlife Fund (Washington D.C. / USA; www.worldwildlife.org) in November to establish the Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance (BFA; www.bioplasticfeedstockalliance.org).
The main objective of the newly formed BFA is to offer advice on how to responsibly select and harvest bio-based plastics feedstocks, such as sugar cane, corn, bulrush and switchgrass. The alliance is to be aided by experts from industry, academia and non-governmental entities, which are to provide their input on how to sustainably develop bioplastic feedstocks. With plant-based plastics gaining in utilisation, the alliance aims to address concerns regarding the impact on land use, food security and biodiversity.
WWF’s Erin Simon welcomed BFA’s establishment, saying, “This alliance will go a long way in ensuring the responsible management of natural resources used to meet the growing demand for bioplastics.” At its core, BFA attempts to balance the rising popularity of sustainable, plant-based products like bioplastics with rising global demand for food and fibre, aiming to ensure sustainable growth.
BFA’s founding members are already quite active in the bioplastics arena. Coca-Cola recently announced a collaboration with Ford using its “PlantBottle” technology - see Plasteurope.com of 22.11.2013 - and the global drinks giant has also been partnering with Heinz – see Plasteurope.com of 02.03.2011. In mid-2012, Coca-Cola, Ford, Heinz, Nike and P&G jointly created the “Plant PET Technology Collaborative" (PTC), aimed at accelerating the development and use of 100% plant-based PET materials - see Plasteurope.com of 11.06.2012. Danone, meanwhile, has been working together with Dutch R&D company Avantium (Amsterdam; www.avantium.com) to drive the development of bio-based PET alternative PEF - see Plasteurope.com of 27.03.2012 - while Nestle’s efforts in the bioplastics field include the use of sugar cane-derived plastic caps for several of its Brazilian beverage containers - see Plasteurope.com of 04.08.2011. As for Unilever’s sustainability efforts, the company announced earlier in 2013 that it had eliminated waste to landfill at all 26 of its manufacturing and non-manufacturing sites in the US and Canada - see Plasteurope.com of 26.04.2013.
The main objective of the newly formed BFA is to offer advice on how to responsibly select and harvest bio-based plastics feedstocks, such as sugar cane, corn, bulrush and switchgrass. The alliance is to be aided by experts from industry, academia and non-governmental entities, which are to provide their input on how to sustainably develop bioplastic feedstocks. With plant-based plastics gaining in utilisation, the alliance aims to address concerns regarding the impact on land use, food security and biodiversity.
WWF’s Erin Simon welcomed BFA’s establishment, saying, “This alliance will go a long way in ensuring the responsible management of natural resources used to meet the growing demand for bioplastics.” At its core, BFA attempts to balance the rising popularity of sustainable, plant-based products like bioplastics with rising global demand for food and fibre, aiming to ensure sustainable growth.
BFA’s founding members are already quite active in the bioplastics arena. Coca-Cola recently announced a collaboration with Ford using its “PlantBottle” technology - see Plasteurope.com of 22.11.2013 - and the global drinks giant has also been partnering with Heinz – see Plasteurope.com of 02.03.2011. In mid-2012, Coca-Cola, Ford, Heinz, Nike and P&G jointly created the “Plant PET Technology Collaborative" (PTC), aimed at accelerating the development and use of 100% plant-based PET materials - see Plasteurope.com of 11.06.2012. Danone, meanwhile, has been working together with Dutch R&D company Avantium (Amsterdam; www.avantium.com) to drive the development of bio-based PET alternative PEF - see Plasteurope.com of 27.03.2012 - while Nestle’s efforts in the bioplastics field include the use of sugar cane-derived plastic caps for several of its Brazilian beverage containers - see Plasteurope.com of 04.08.2011. As for Unilever’s sustainability efforts, the company announced earlier in 2013 that it had eliminated waste to landfill at all 26 of its manufacturing and non-manufacturing sites in the US and Canada - see Plasteurope.com of 26.04.2013.
11.12.2013 Plasteurope.com [227015-0]
Published on 11.12.2013