After an eventful 2012, a year in which it made a number of milestone decisions and entered into new agreements (for more details, see Plasteurope.com of 21.12.2012), US bioscience company Metabolix (Cambridge, Massachusetts; www.metabolix.com) has extended its activities beyond Europe and the Americas towards the east. In late March 2013, the company entered into a distribution agreement with China’s Tianjin GreenBio Materials Company (Tianjin; www.tjgreenbio.com/en) under the terms of which Metabolix will distribute the Chinese company’s “SoGreen” PHA-based heat shrink film in Europe and also become the exclusive distributor in the Americas. The two companies also signed a PHA supply agreement, whereby Tianjin GreenBio will supply the US group with PHA biopolymers. The Chinese company operates a 10,000 t/y PHA plant in Tianjin, Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe capacity database (www.polyglobe.net) shows.

Bob Engle, vice president Business and Commercial Development at Metabolix, said the heat shrink film would complement the US group’s portfolio, adding that he expects the material to “be of interest to customers in the US and Europe seeking biobased materials and biodegradable performance.” He said the agreement marked a first step towards a potential collaboration between the two companies in developing additional PHA products.

The two types of heat shrink film offered by Tianjin GreenBio are used to bind together items for packaging shipping and storage. While one of its products is specifically designed to replace PVC film used to package boxed goods and other non-edible products, the other aims to replace PE films often used for packaging bulky items, including bottled water. Both “SoGreen 2001” and “SoGreen 3001” resins are DIN CERTCO certified and meet the EN 13432 standard for compostable plastics.