MUNDOMATERIAL

After my latest post, which was a brief intro on 2009 being the International Year of Natural Fibres, I’m writing today about fique and its fibre, cabuya (I’ve left these terms untranslated, but I’m open to suggestions). Fique, or Furcrae macrophyla, is grown mainly in Colombia. Much of the information used to write this post has been taken from this report, published by the Observatorio de Competitividad Agrocadenas Colombia. Although I like to provide useful links in my posts, I have to admit that for this post it has been very difficult to find any information in English, so most of the links included are in Spanish. Several semi-finished products are obtained from the fique plant: the fibre, also called cabuya, bagasse, solid residues and juices. Some of the commercial products obtained after further processing are as follows: from the fibre: thread, fabric, packaging and, empaques y biomats from bagasse: paper, reinforced fibre, conglomerates, mattress filler from... 
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The FAO has declared 2009 International Year of Natural Fibres. Within natural fibres we can find materials as important for humanity as wool, cotton or flax, key in our development through history. They are used in a variety of markets, to produce textiles, paper and composite materials. The benefits of their production, sales and export significantly help farmers in deprived areas to secure an income, a rare advantage over other crops and lines of work. For this reason, mundomaterial wants to promote through 2009 the use of natural fibres in their many applications. 2009 has been declared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,FAO, the International Year of Natural Fibres. With this initiative FAO aims at promoting the use of natural fibres of animal and vegetal origin. Modern manmade synthetic fibres, like nylon, polyester or acrylic fibres are obviously not included. Other natural fibres sourced from trees are not included, as they will be promoted in 2011,... 
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In my last post, I discussed why it is important for bioplastics to penetrate the market of durable applications. I suggested that this was a new step for the industry and I’ve been politely corrected by Todd Rogers, Market Manager- Polyamides at Arkema Inc, who pointed out that Arkema has been commercialising durable bioplastics for nearly 50 years. To amend my mistake and provide me with more info, Mr Rogers and I spend some time discussing Arkema’s Renewable range, the recently created Bioplastics Council and some of the environmental challenges faced by the plastics industry. Arkema Renewables Arkema has been producing at commercial scale for more than 40 years a high performance polyamide, PA11, under the tradename of Rilsan®. The fact that Rilsan® is derived from castor oil, a renewable source, has not been a top marketing priority until recently —I don’t think the market place was requesting bioplastics until recently. Most of our customers were and still are... 
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DuPont and Denso corporation have collaborated to launch an automotive part made with a renewably sourced polymer. The novelty here is that the part is a radiator end tank that is going to be exposed to harsh underhood conditions. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to me a very important breakthrough for bioplastics, going from disposable products to pure high performance. Of course, DuPont is not an ordinary plastic producer and Denso is not just a client. DuPont/Denso bioplastic radiator The part: automotive radiator end-tank The material: nylon The grade that made it: DuPont™ Zytel® 610 DuPont Renewably Sourced Materials The launch of a bioplastic underhood car part is well framed within DuPont’s strategy towards better environmental practices, it is certainly not an isolated movement. Through an alliance with Tate & Lyle, of which I have already written here, DuPont can now commercialised several plastics with renewable content, as well as polyols. DuPont... 
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I’ve already written a couple of posts about bloguers boycotting plastic, not purchasing items made with it. Anti-plastic bloguers are a good source of information if you are looking for trends in the way the general public perceives plastic. The economic downturn suggests that austerity will define many markets, forcing down demand for non-essentials items that are particularly hated by anti-plastic bloggers. It is up to you to decide the importance that the blogging community may have, but like many other activist movements that inspire them, they are now profitting from social networks. I’d like to discuss which methods they are currently using and how they are ideas are being incorporated into society. Anti-plastic bloggers are similar to other activists in their effective use of new technologies to spread their message. For example, A month without plastic had a reporting format that is becoming common nowadays – the 30 days experience. Morgan Spurlock made Super... 
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