The future is now: a Belgian solar car based on bio-based resins

image
Punch One

Solvay, Cardolite Corporation and SHD Composite Materials Ltd are supporting the Punch Powertrain Solar Team from the University of Leuven in building the Punch One, a Belgian solar car based on bio-based resins.

The Punch One, that will run the Solar Challenge in Australia in October, is produced with carbon fiber prepregs impregnated with Epicerol®-based BisA epoxy and cured with a hardener based on cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL), a natural renewable chemical raw material.

Continue reading

Novamont presents its new brand identity

image
Catia Bastioli presents the new brand of Novamont

Novamont presented last Friday in Milan its new brand identity, in order to enhance and aligning the corporate image of the group.

Continue reading

The popular music band Pearl Jam supports the bioeconomy

image
Pearl Jam

They are known throughout the world and admired for their music. Jeremy, Black, Last kiss, Better man: they are just some of the titles of their most famous songs. But Pearl Jam are also supporters of the bioeconomy. The band originally from Seattle and Green Dot, working together with Sea-Lect Plastics, have created a biodegradable luggage tag manufactured locally in the Seattle area. The tags were made as a special gift to members of the band’s popular fan organization, the Ten Club.

Continue reading

Reverdia joins European sustainable packaging initiative

image

Reverdia, a joint venture between Royal DSM and Roquette Frères dedicated to be the global leader in the market for sustainable succinic acid, has joined the consortium ADMIT BioSuccInnovate, an innovative Climate-KIC initiative funded by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), along with the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University and other European partners. The Consortium will explore with CIMV, a biorefining company, the use of locally-available lignocellulosic feedstock, such as wheat straw or miscanthus to produce bio-based, biodegradable plastic packaging for consumer markets in association with UK retailer Waitrose and food tray producer Sharpak.

Continue reading

France goes green: Paris adopted the law on energy transition and green growth

image

Yesterday, the French parliament adopted the law on energy transition and green growth proposed by Ségolène Royal, Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy.

The new law creates the opportunities to introduce biobased, compostable plastics to selected types of packaging as well as fruit and vegetable bags.

Continue reading

Sharp launches the first bio-based smartphone

image

Japanese Sharp launches the first bio-based smartphone. Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation announced that its bio-based engineering plastic DURABIO™ has been chosen by Sharp Corporation for the front panel of its new smartphone, the AQUOS CRYSTAL 2, slated to go on sale in the middle of July 2015 through SoftBank Corporation.

Continue reading

In Europe a circular economy could result in overall benefits of 1.8 trillion euro by 2030

image

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment, and SUN (Stiftungsfonds für Umweltökonomie und Nachhaltigkeit), presented the results of a major new study at the European Commission’s stakeholder conference on the circular economy in Brussels last June 25. “Growth Within: A circular economy vision for a competitive Europe” reveals that by adopting circular economy principles, Europe can take advantage of the impending technology revolution to create a net benefit of 1.8 trillion euro by 2030, or €0.9 trillion more than in the current linear development path.

Continue reading

Bioeconomy: from Athens to Brussels

image
Athens

The Greek crisis is an opportunity to reflect again on our idea of Europe. In our opinion the euro is an irreversible process. But it is absurd to weigh on the ECB, in fact the only European institution truly federal, the task to deal with the crisis with the only instrument of monetary policy.

Continue reading

Turkish Flokser Group launches an artificial leather fabric that has 70% renewable content

Ekin Tükek, Flokser Group board member
Ekin Tükek, Flokser Group board member

The Flokser Group, a global leader in leather and suede fabrics, has successfully developed an innovative artificial leather fabric using bio-based materials supplied by DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products and BioAmber.

Continue reading

EU green light for €120 million new investments in bioeconomy projects

image
Bioeconomy daily at Biobased World in Frankfurt

The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking, a public-private partnership between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium (BIC), has approved the funding of 10 projects totalling €120 million to boost the EU capacity to stimulate growth and jobs via a more circular, low carbon and sustainable bioeconomy.

Continue reading