ANNUAL REVIEW 2015

Circular economy, recycling, environment: How "green" is Europe's plastics industry? / Plastic bags and one-way cutlery under pressure / Political establishment and industry join hands to combat marine litter

RECYCLING

New foundation to support recovery of brominated EPS / Demo plant to go on stream by 2018

COMPOSITES RESEARCH

Germany's Fraunhofer Institute merges pultrusion and blow-moulding techniques / Process enables production of complex parts

ASSOCIATIONS

European Composites, Plastics and Polymer Processing Platform ECP4 re-elects key board members / Launch of “Strategic Research Agenda” for the plastics industry

PLASTICS NETWORKS

Germany's Innonet Kunststoff and France's Plastipolis enter into bilateral cooperation

EVENTS

“5th ISTA European Packaging Symposium” to take place in Valencia in March

LEHMANN & VOSS

HBCD-free flame retardant for XPS panels

FEEDSTOCK RESEARCH

Germany's Fraunhofer ICT develops new method to source aromatics from wood and plastics scrap

POLYMER RESEARCH

Fraunhofer ISC develops "BioOrmocer" barrier coat for food packaging of biodegradable plastic film

EVONIK

Structural foam for aircraft components / Lighter and cost effective / Tests with Airbus over past two years

PET RECYCLING

European associations and R&D institutes establish “Polymark” project / Developing new technology to detect used PET bottles suitable for reuse in food-contact applications / EU-funded research

SUSTAINABLE PLASTICS

Plastic components made from fermented agricultural residues / Compounds produced based on PHB / Applications in electronics / EU-funded project

BIOCHEMICALS

European Union established BIO-QED project to drive production of chemicals based on renewable resources

PLASTIC FANTASTIC

Serve me some of that tasty octopus!

BIOPLASTICS

Novamont-coordinated ReBioFoam project publishes findings / Microwave process to manufacture 3-D components

PLASTICS AND CLIMATE

CO2 utilisation making strides but barely dents emissions growth / Nova-Institute conference

NATURAL FIBRES

Infeed bottleneck is overcome / Research project generates interest from bioplastic compounders

BAYER MATERIALSCIENCE

TPU powders introduced for selective laser sintering / Brand licence awarded to development partner Solid Composites

POLYMER PRICES

Composites/GRP June 2012: Ortho resins in weak rollover / Feedstock costs down / Converters expect rebates in July / Glass fibre notations defy producers‘ attempts to push through increases

PLASMA ETCHING

Anti-reflective films incorporate surface nanostructures / New technology is based on the “moth eye” principle / Continuous process for anti-reflecting polymers

EVENTS

First “Biopolymer World Congress” in Italy

EVENTS

Third “GPCA Plastics Summit” in Dubai

ARTENIUS

New PET packaging contains up to 50% recycled content / Matches virgin PET

EUROPEAN PLASTICS RECYCLING

SuperCleanQ consortium receives EUR 1.9m EU funding to improve process and quality procedures / Focus on food contact applications by 12 companies and organisations

BIOPLASTICS

Research: Launching “MouldPulp” project to develop biocomposites for injection moulding / Pan-European R&D effort involving Swedish, Finish and German scientists