Europe’s bioplastics industry association European Bioplastics (Berlin / Germany; www.european-bioplastics.org) has welcomed the EU’s “Bioeconomy Strategy”, outlined by researcher commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn on 13 February 2012, calling it “a good start”. However, association chairman Andy Sweetman said his group had “hoped for more specific measures for bioplastics to be integrated into the strategy,” including those developed by the EU Lead Market Advisory Group for biobased products. “What we need are strong measures to support the market development of bioplastics products,” Sweetman said.

Entitled “Innovating for Sustainable Growth: A Bioeconomy for Europe,” the EU strategy envisions a transition from a fossil-based economy to a sustainable bioeconomy across the continent, focusing on biobased technology R&D. According to a report by US market researcher Freedonia (Cleveland, Ohio; www.freedonia.com), the global bioplastics market is expected to reach 1m t/y in 2015 – see Plasteurope.com of 15.12.2011.

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