As bioplastics move into the more mainstream plastics arena, distributors, too, are showing increasing interest in including these products in their portfolios. Biesterfeld, which had previously entered into a partnership with Zaragoza, Spain-based Nurel, to distribute this company’s Inzea resin in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Austria as well as the Benelux and CIS regions, with the exception of Poland, will now also sell the resin in France, effective immediately.

The market for bioplastics is expected to expand considerably when the new French plastic bag law banning single-use thin-walled plastic bags takes full effect. Under the new law, lightweight bags for fruits and vegetables, for example, will need to be made in full or in part from bio-sourced materials as well as being compostable in home composting from January 2017 on. Nurel’s entry onto the French market is therefore well timed, and a shrewd move.

Nurel has developed a range of fully biodegradable polymers, boasting a renewably-sourced content - non-GMO PLA, starch - of up to 85%. Inzea features optimized mechanical properties and processing parameters similar to those of polyolefins and styrene plastics, which make it a sustainable replacement for petroleum-based polymers. These bioplastics are processable on standard polymer processing machinery via conventional injection molding, extrusion and thermoforming technologies. The resins also offer potential for considerable energy savings due to their lower processing temperature, says the company.

Nurel’s Inzea products find application in a wide range of areas, and are designed for a range of different disposal methods, depending on the formulation. All Inzea products are food contact approved under Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011 on plastic. Packaging is therefore a key application area, with the materials being used to produce dimensionally stable shells, cups and larger containers in retail, and crockery and cutlery for the gastronomy sector, as well as coffee capsules and shopping bags. These materials are moreover extremely suitable for agri- and horticultural applications, such as planters and plant clamps: after use, they biodegrade in the ground, enriching the soil with nutrients.

The Inzea product range complies with USDA Certified Biobased Product Certification, which is based on the ASTM D6866 standard. The OK compost label for Inzea guarantees compliance with EN 13432, the European standard for compostability in industrial compost plants. The associated ecotoxicity test shows that Inzea degrades harmlessly in the soil and has no impact on the quality or growth of plants.