German IK plastic packaging association announces new position paper

Germany’s IK plastic packaging association has voiced its support for bioplastics in a new position paper, but has warned it must not lead to discrimination of traditional plastics.

IK said it “supports all political activities to enhance the development and the use of bioplastics and rejects any discrimination of single segments of these products, such as compostable packaging on fossil raw material basis or blends of fossil or renewable components”.

But avoiding traditional plastics would impede competitiveness and innovation in the entire plastics industry, IK added.

Production of raw materials in an agricultural process with subsequent industrial process requiring additional energy and causing emissions – as the biodegradation a compostable product at its end of life may also do.

However, as long as there is a carbon dioxide-neutral incineration with energy recovery at the end of the product’s life, IK believes that renewable raw materials can contribute to reach the targets of the Kyoto-protocol.

IK said that mechanisms such as oxo- and UV-degradation do not meet the standards on biodegradability/compostability and are therefore not included in the exclusion up to 2012 of biodegrable plastics under the German packaging ordinance.

Source

prw.com March 28, 2006.

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