05 Mar A hundred companies from all over Spain attend the technical meeting on biodegradable plastics organised by Andaltec
Almost one hundred companies from the plastics sector from all over Spain have attended the technical meeting on biodegradable plastics organised by Andaltec at their headquarters in Martos. The conference has dealt with this issue of growing interest for companies, since biodegradable plastics present an increasing demand from industry and final customers alike. Hence, renowned lecturers have defined the notion of biodegradable plastics, explained their main features, lab tests or regulations affecting them. Raw materials characteristics, transformation processes or future marketing tendencies have also been discussed within this activity.
Daniel Aguilera, Head of business development for Andaltec, highlighted the great interest aroused within the industrial sector in the transition from traditional to biodegradable materials. “Years, ago, the use of biodegradable plastics was aimed at marketing positioning; nowadays, it has become a growing market imperative”. Thus, he has encouraged companies to profit from the great market opportunities this area presents currently, pointing that Andaltec could be a great help thanks to its broad expertise and experience in material development, testing and company consulting related to biodegradable plastics.
The conference has included top-level lecturers such as Jordi Simón, technical director of the Spanish Association for Biodegradable Plastics (Asobiocom), who has elaborated on its main features and has given a future vision of this material. Next, Alejandro Gracia, from the company Resinex Spain, has explained the characteristics of the raw materials from which biodegradable plastics are derived.
For Andaltec, Daniel Aguilera has illustrated the development process of biodegradable plastics, as well as the lab testing necessary to certify the material’s biodegradability, Them Pascal Antoine, manager at Imvolca, , Adolfo Ibáñez, marketing director for Negri Bossi Spain and Stefano Prina, Head of marketing for Comac, have accounted for the differences in the manufacturing processes between standard and biodegradable plastics. They also outlined the specific transformation equipment employed to process these materials.
Finally, the meeting has offered and interesting lecture on success stories, in which different companies have presented their achievements on biodegradable plastic products. Therefore, Andaltec has presented their graphene-activated food packaging, developed within the European project Grafood. Bioammo has introduced their firearm cartridges manufactured with biodegradable plastics. Next, Smart Materials have accounted for their biodegradable PLA filament, while IBC company has shared its success story about bags manufactured with plastic obtained from organic material.
José María Navarro, Andaltec’s General Manager, has stated his satisfaction about the great interest aroused from this conference, becoming one of the most successful in the Technological Centre’s long history and having attended companies from all over Spain and even Mexico and Italy. “One of the main goals for our Technological Centre is providing additional company value by means of a technology transfer, so that companies are more competitive. That’s the main reason behind this type of conferences, as they give sense to Andaltec’s existence as an innovation reference for businesses”, as he claims.
This conference has been sponsored by Resinexm Negri Bossi and Imvolca, counting with support from Asobiocom and Packnet too.