Renewable materials as replacement for oil based plastics

The plastics industry is under great pressure, the requirement is to develop environment friendly alternatives to today’s oil based products. The alternatives must meet the same demands or be better than them. And it is not just consideration for the environment that is pushing the edge of the envelope, the producers must try to cut costs too as the supply and price of oil cannot be guaranteed. The name of the game is to find and develop new, high-performance environment friendly and cost cutting alternatives.

Re8 Bioplastics has determined to develop and manufacture materials that are recyclable such as bio-plastics and bio-composites and market these as viable and reliable alternatives to oil based materials in the global plastics industry.

The customer advantages are:

• Performance. When the strength and rigidity of natural fibres is exploited in combination with plastic the result is a better performance than pure plastic.
• Economy. Approximately 30% faster cycle and less energy required as the material does not need to be heated and cooled as much as pure plastic and approximately 300% less wear and tear on moulding tools and wear parts, when compared with materials reinforced with, for example, fibreglass, reduce total costs. Natural fibres used with plastics or bio-plastics have a more stable price that oil based materials.
• The environment. Less material based on oil based raw materials and a higher performance mean that less material is required to do the same job. The recycling process means that more material can be recycled and the cost of doing so is less; for example plastics reinforced with fibreglass are not so easily recycled.

The Re8 mantra is: renew rethink recreate-->re8!

By using renewable raw materials and open minds to new ways of thinking about oil-based plastics, Re8 want to exploit the fantastic characteristics of polymers and open the doors for radical designs and sustainable solutions that are economically viable.

Thomas Bräck CEO