Following their September 2011 compounding agreement on “green” polyethylene – see Plasteurope.com of 20.09.2011 – Brazilian resins giant Braskem (São Paulo; www.braskem.com.br) and German bioplastics compounding specialist FKuR (Willich; www.fkur.com) have signed a distribution pact for the biopolymers, which are to be marketed under FKuR’s “Terralene” brand name. With its European sales force, the German company said it will provide additional technology and technical contact support as well as acting as development advisor and logistics partner for the Brazilian group.

With its renewable LLDPE and HDPE launched in September 2010, Braskem lays claims to be the world’s first supplier of the non-biodegradable PE produced from sugarcane ethanol-derived ethylene at Triunfo, Rio Grande do Sul / Brazil. The product with a renewable resource ratio of “up to 100%” is also claimed to be completely recyclable using existing processes. What’s more, Braskem says, each tonne of the green PE captures as much as 2.5 t of CO₂ from the atmosphere and thus helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.