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Cereplast, one of the key manufacturers of biodegradable plastics made from renewable resources, has continued to expand, signing a new agreement with a distributor in Scandinavia. Cereplast is one of the leading providers of truly "green" bioplastic resins that appears in products ranging from car parts to compostable plastic utensils that you can buy at the store. The expansion of Cereplast into the Scandinavian market is a reflection of the broader world-wide expansion, especially in Europe and Asia, of the bioplastic industry.
This world-wide shift is good news, because the global economy is based on positive feedback. As distribution goes up to meet demand, production and manufacturing will also rise, and this will drive costs down: the more you can mass-produce any product, the cheaper it is.
What's the evidence for this? Also in August, Dow Chemical announced plans to set up operations for mass-producing sugarcane-derived polyethylene in Brazil. With the opening of the new production plant, Dow Chemical will control the entire chain of production of their bioplastic resin, from the sugarcane field to the processing plant, allowing them to mass-produce the bioplastic more efficiently and at a lower cost. Cardia Bioplastics has also announced growth, and Genomatica, an industrial biotechnology startup based in San Diego, has agreed to establish a joint venture with Novamont, a leading bio-plastic producer, to produce butanediol (BDO) from renewable feedstocks in Europe.
But the excitement isn't just going on overseas. Trellis Earth Products Inc., a company that specializes in consumer products (bags, boxes, cutlery) made from plants, announced that it will spend $7 million to move part of its overseas manufacturing to its Wilsonville, Oregon. The company has been seeing consistent growth, expecting $4 million in sales this year, which is a 30% growth over last year. Although they have outsourced manufacturing to China in the past, they said that high tariffs and shipping costs have made it more cost effective to move much of their operations home. They also said they plan on opening another manufacturing facility in Chicago in the near future. We know the company must be doing well, because it also filed for two new patents this month, as well.
Petoskey Plastics is adding 12 million pounds of capacity to its plant in Hartford City, Indiana. BioAmber Inc., a Minneapolis-based company, is building a new 35 million-pound-capacity plant in Sarnia, Ontario, to make succinic acid. This is a bio-based chemical that can be converted into the types of bioplastics that are used in plastic cutlery and auto parts. And Taiwan just signed a deal with Cargill to buy $55 million worth of corn-based plastics made in Blair, Nebraska.
All in all, it looks like investing in "green technology" is already beginning to happen in the United States, regardless of the posturing and politics going on in this election season.
What new bioplastic source materials were all the buzz this past month? Bioplastics from cheese and bioplastics from cows seem to top the list of interesting and buzz-worthy announcements.
Did we miss something from this past month? Do you have an announcement you want included in next month's round-up?
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