Bioplastic products unveiled in Rotorua
15 Dec, 2011
Bioplastics products made from renewable sources, such as plants or bacteria, and an alternative to fossil-fuel plastics derived from petroleum were unveiled at a bioplastics workshop in Rotorua in October 2011.
Compostable spife for eating kiwifruit
Of note was the spife – a spoon and knife combination – made from kiwifruit waste. The spife was a collaborative project of Zespri and Crown research institute Scion and designed for eating kiwifruit. The spife is also compostable.
Growing demand for bioplastics products
While some may feel the spife is a superfluous invention, Scion Business Development Manager Jeremy Warnes says demand for bioplastics products is growing, and there have been major developments in the past year.
Mr Warnes believes there’s a golden opportunity for bioplastic packaging from New Zealand to reflect New Zealand’s push for a clean, green image. He says bioplastics will help give packaging the sustainability that it requires and also offer a way of meeting offshore legislative requirements around packaging.
Biofoam to replace polystyrene
A Scion-developed biofoam that could replace polystyrene as a packaging material was also presented at the workshop.
In 2008, newly developed biofoam, researched and developed by Scion scientists under contract to Biopolymer Network, won the best innovation category at the International Bioplastics Awards in Munich. The novel polylactic acid (PLA) foam was selected for its green credentials and key performance attributes at low densities, which are comparable to existing petroleum-based materials like expanded polystyrene foam. This expanded PLA has performed well in industrial-scale trials at several locations in New Zealand, Europe, and USA.
Get news story: Kiwifruit into plastic
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