Hundreds attend fifth European Bioplastics Conference

Over 360 attendees and exhibitors descended on Dusseldorf, Germany for the fifth annual European Bioplastics Conference, to exchange information and insights about new bioplastic materials and products.

The show, which featured numerous presentations and 28 exhibitors, was held on December 1 and 2 – close on the heels of last month’s K 2010 trade event in the same city, but not so close as to hurt attendance figures, according to Andy Sweetman, event chairman. “Despite the temporal proximity to other important plastics events, the European Bioplastics Conference has definitively established itself as the leading business forum for the bioplastics industry”, Sweetman said, “This year, more than 70 per cent of the participants came from Europe, almost 20 per cent from Asia, and the better part of the remaining 10 per cent from North and South America.”

New biopolymer grades unveiled at the show included a new PLA offering from Purac and Arkema – the result of a joint development announced in September – with properties said to be comparable to ABS for injection molding applications.

The event was also marked by the Bioplastics Award 2010 being conferred for the first time during the conference. Presented by Bioplastics Magazine, the 2010 award went to EconCore, a Belgium-based company offering core technologies for lightweighting honeycomb panels and other components.