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Every month, an innovation agent from ChemistryNL gives you insight into his/her daily work. Read the blogs of:Martin van Dord, Caroli Buitenhuis, René Reijtenbagh, Eric van Sprang, Marco Tibaldi and Lays da Cruz

This month : Caroli Buitenhuis

Blog: A European market for bioplastics

The European Union is home to 450 million consumers. Across Europe as a whole, that number exceeds 600 million.

These consumers eat and drink at least three times a day, largely consuming food and beverages produced in Europe. Yet these products are still predominantly packaged in virgin fossil-based plastics made from oil sourced from other continents, or in paper coated with fossil-based plastics.

At the same time, Europe’s food and beverage industry generates large volumes of biobased side streams, residues and waste streams. These also include failed or rejected harvests — and with the current drought, we can expect more failed harvests again. These biological streams often contain significant amounts of sugars that can be converted into bioplastics such as the biopolyesters PLA, PEF and PHA. These materials can, in turn, be used to produce packaging for the food and beverage industry. The industry could therefore even become a supplier of raw materials for its own packaging.

In Europe, we have both the feedstocks and a market of at least 450 million consumers. The technologies and equipment required to produce bioplastics have already been developed. We also have the necessary knowledge, scientific evidence and analyses. And we already have the foundations of a strong infrastructure for collecting, sorting and recycling these materials — mechanically, chemically and organically.

So now, we simply need to start doing it at scale.

As an Innovation Broker at ChemistryNL, I work on this transition from fossil feedstocks to sustainably produced renewable raw materials. I support companies throughout the value chain with their innovation challenges: from feedstock to new feedstock. I focus specifically on packaging and other products with a short service life, such as diapers, disposables, textiles and toys.

This sometimes means sitting down with farmers who want to know how their biomass residues can be valorised into biopolymers, opening up a new market and generating additional income and greater financial security. Together, we explore the opportunities, routes and steps needed throughout the value chain.

Bioplastics producers, for example, may want to identify promising applications for their materials and determine which specifications are required, such as barrier or mechanical properties. They also often want to be connected with potential stakeholders in the end market, particularly for subsidy applications where stakeholder involvement can be crucial.

But in between, there is often a compounder who first has to formulate the right material composition for a specific product or packaging application. This could involve achieving the correct material flow or adding a specific additive, for example UV protection for a milk bottle.

Then it is the manufacturing industry’s turn. Do you opt for blown film, injection moulding, thermoforming or extrusion blow moulding?

After that comes a period of testing, testing and more testing. I also help companies identify the right R&D knowledge institute or testing facility. But even then, the job is not finished. Materials have to be safe and therefore need to comply with different certification requirements. One example is certification demonstrating that a material is safe for food contact. These requirements are legally mandatory. Here too, I support companies with knowledge and relevant contacts.

Eventually, you may have developed an excellent product but still have no contacts with brand owners or retailers. Many of them are not yet sufficiently familiar with these new materials and the possibilities they offer. This means there is a major need for fact-checked, independent information.

That is why the Bioplastics Hub is particularly relevant as an independent knowledge and innovation centre. Using practical, existing examples, it provides direct access to insights and contacts — without conflicting interests and without unnecessary noise.

It is therefore encouraging that I am regularly approached to organise innovation sessions with distributors, retailers and brand owners looking for independent expertise through ChemistryNL. They want to learn more about material value chains, the different technologies and the opportunities available, including insights into collection, sorting, recycling and composting.

As an Innovation Broker specialising in renewable materials, you therefore need an excellent understanding not only of all these value chains and infrastructures, but also of policy, legislation and the different interests involved — including those of the waste management industry.

So let us return to that European market of at least 450 million consumers. They all eat and drink, and a large proportion of the food and beverages they consume are produced in Europe.

In the Netherlands and across Europe, we already have everything we need to package these products here

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