The entire NaturePlast-BiopolyNov team wishes you and your loved ones a very merry Christmas and a happy new year 2020! May this new year bring you health, joy and all the personal and professional success you expect.
During the year, the growth in NaturePlast’s activity enabled us to expand our team with the recruitment of a new project manager. Pauline joined us last November and is in charge of collaborative projects as well as in-house R&D activities.
2019 was also full of good news for the deployment of NaturePlast’s Research and Development work.
Three new collaborative projects, supported by European or regional funds, began during the year!
INdIGO (INnovative fIshing Gear for Ocean) project
INdIGO has been selected by the European program Interreg VA France (Manche) Angleterre (FMA), financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). It has a budget of €4.2 million (including €2.9 from ERDF) and will run until June 2023. Its aim is to reduce the total quantity of plastic present in the FMA area by 3% through the development of biodegradable fishing gear, helping to improve water quality and maintain biodiversity.
With this in mind, 6 research institutions (Universities of Bretagne Sud, Plymouth and Portsmouth, IFREMER, CEFAS and SMEL) and 4 private partners (NaturePlast, Filt, IRMA and Marine South East) will collaborate to ensure the development and adoption of the new biodegradable fishing gear by professionals. The main achievement is to validate the proof-of-concept of a durable fishing gear with a controlled lifespan.
End-users will be involved from the earliest stages to ensure that the product meets their needs. INdIGO will also focus on improving the prevention and management of pollution generated by machines, by identifying existing recycling channels and developing an application to locate machines that have already been lost.
INdIGO will cover the entire production chain, from the formulation and manufacture of the filament to the development of the prototype net. The deployment of the net at sea, durability tests and technical-economic analysis will be studied. A life-cycle analysis will be carried out to avoid pollution transfer. The involvement of SMEs will ensure economic sustainability by exploiting the results at the end of the project. This mastery of the sector will enable the development of products that are adapted to needs and competitive, while reducing their impact on the environment.
ALGRIPLAST project
The aim of this project, funded by the Normandy region and the ERDF, is to develop plastic materials and finished products based on by-products and co-products fromalgae, cereals and vegetables.
The functionalities provided by these by-products should make it possible to provide a technical response to the specifications targeted, as well as to current and future legislation on the end-of-life of plastic products.
In fact, the use of by-products and by-products makes it possible to :
- Obtaining finished products for different applications by modifying polysaccharides.
- Modulation of material lifespan, and in particular acceleration of biodegradation kinetics through better understanding and control of fragmentation phenomena.
- Obtaining new functionalities by incorporation into biodegradable polymers.
The consortium comprises 5 partners, 2 of them academic (NaturePlast, Algaïa, Nov’A Recherche, UniLaSalle and the EVA laboratory at Caen University). The project, which began last October, will last 32 months.
Bio-plastics Europe project
Bio-Plastics Europe – Developing and Implementing Sustainability Based Solutions for Bio-Based Plastic Production and Use to Preserve Land and Sea Environmental Quality in Europe – is a project involving 22 partners from 13 countries, including universities, research centers, associations and industry.
With a planned duration of 48 months, it aims to develop sustainable strategies and solutions for biobased plastics products, as well as circular innovation approaches for the entire bioplastics system. In addition, environmental and health issues will be taken into account, supporting the development of policies for research, innovation and technology transfer.
Several raw materials and compounds will be studied as part of this global approach, with a wide range of applications envisaged at this stage: from rigid objects, such as toys or reusable cutlery, to flexible films.
In these projects, NaturePlast will apply its expertise to the formulation and production of bioplastic compounds.
New range of materials
Replacing polypropylene with a biodegradable plastic has been a frequent request for many years, but is not yet industrially feasible for all applications.
In 2019, NaturePlast will be developing a range of biodegradable and mostly biobased compounds to help meet these demands.
Don’t hesitate to contact us for more information on the grades available and the possibilities of adapting them to your constraints.
About NaturePlast NaturePlast is a French company based in Normandy (Ifs – 14), specializing in bioplastics. With over 10 years’ experience in this field, it boasts the broadest portfolio of biobased and/or biodegradable raw materials and compounds in Europe. Together with its daughter company BiopolyNov, it also supports manufacturers from the birth to the industrialization of their innovation projects. Thanks to the R&D know-how acquired over the years, NaturePlast and BiopolyNov are now experts in the development and production of formulations for customer or collaborative projects.