1. Bioplastics in the Netherlands: Trends and Outlooks
1 Marketsize and trends
The market share of bioplastics on the whole plastic market (including plastics based on petroleum)
is only 1 %.1
However the growth potential is huge. Analysts predict that the total market of
bioplastics over the period 2012-2017 will grow with 400 %.2
In its report Rabobank indicates that the annual growth of bioplastic is 20 %. However with this
annual growth. With this growth bioplastic will still only account for 4 % of the total plastic market in
2030. The maximum market share of bioplastic compared to the total plactic industry is estimated at
84%.3
Buyers in some sectors (like automotive) are using more and more plastics instead of other materials,
but they are also demanding more product specific characteristics (like heat resistance). But also
other sectors have specific demands for (bio)plastics so bioplastic producers can produce specific
bioplastics for the need of specific companies and sectors.4
Among the European plastics industry the bioplastics is the fastest growing product group with an
annual growth of 10 %. The European Commission also proclaimed the bioplastic industry as ‘Lead
Market’, which means that innovation increasing the use of bioplastics are able to receive EU grants.5
The Dutch use 110 kg of plastics per capita (European average is 98 kg). The sectors in which the use
of plastics is growing are: automotive, healthcare and construction.6
In the Netherlands one third of all plastics is used in the Automotive/transportation/machine/devices
sector. Another 20 % is used for packaging and another 20 % in the construction sector. These are
the largest sector when looking at overall plastic use (including all kinds of plastics).7
Western Europe is the largest consumer of bioplastics consuming 50 % of the world’s supply.8
In Europe the strongest gain is expected in the biobased, non-biodegradable bioplastics group.
Biodegradable plastics, which e.g. support biowaste collection and thereby increase waste stream
efficiency, are also demonstrating impressive growth rates. Their production capacity will gain
around 60 percent by 2017.
1
http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/5009/Archief/archief/article/detail/3541736/2013/11/09/Bioplastic-moet-de-
markt-veroveren.dhtml
2
http://www.agro-chemie.nl/artikelen/opmars-bioplastics-ondanks-vooroordelen/
3
https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=14&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEQQFjADOA
o&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rabotransact.com%2Fpublicationservice%2Fdownload%2F407375_Chemie%2Bin
%2BNederland%2B-%2BEen%2Bvoorwaardelijke%2Btoekomst%2B-
%2BSeptember%2B2014.pdf&ei=oMhQVILCMMH4Ou6BgagE&usg=AFQjCNGWAlLZ22WTz5cf1NykemNmJTV9Q
A&sig2=MjnUMvXntXhL2EkmgSYLRA&bvm=bv.78597519,d.ZWU
4
https://www.rabobank.nl/images/industrie_update_april_2014_29650281.pdf?ra_resize=yes&ra_width=800
&ra_height=600&ra_toolbar=yes&ra_locationbar=yes
5
https://www.rabobankcijfersentrends.nl/index.cfm?action=print.printPdf&id=af7e109f-53cc-43f5-b961-
4fbefa6af4ab
6
https://www.rabobankcijfersentrends.nl/index.cfm?action=print.printPdf&id=af7e109f-53cc-43f5-b961-
4fbefa6af4ab
7
https://www.rabobankcijfersentrends.nl/index.cfm?action=print.printPdf&id=af7e109f-53cc-43f5-b961-
4fbefa6af4ab
8
http://www.duurzaamgeproduceerd.nl/nieuws/20131205-wereldwijde-vraag-bioplastics-jaarlijks-omhoog-
met-19

2. When we only look specifically at the European bioplastic market, packaging is still the leading
market segment, other very different segments are gaining in strength, in particular consumer
electronics, automotive, and the fibre market.9
Prices for different kinds of bioplastics in 2013 source: STOWA 2014 10
9
http://en.european-bioplastics.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/EuBP_market_data_2012.pdf

3. Source: European Bioplastic
2 Market outlook
Chances for the bioplastic industry
Producing bioplastics is still more expensive than the petrol based plastics, but with new
technologies the gap in production prices is decreasing making the outlooks for the industry bright.
The public opinion is also in favor of the bioplastic industry while it is forcing companies to increase
sustainable production. Most of the petroleum plastic is still burned buried or it ends up in the
oceans where the amount of plastic already grew to a big floating garbage dump. Companies
(especially big companies) are held increasingly responsible for this forcing them to increase the use
of bioplastics.
In 2017 Europe will consume half of the bioplastics produced, but it only produces 6,8 %. For their
bioplastic consumption Europe will rely heavily on Asia and South America.

4. Source: European Bioplastic December 2013
Use of bioplastics by sector in 2011 source : STOWA 2014 10
Use of bioplastics by sector in 2017 source : STOWA 2014 10

5. Threats for the bioplastic industry
A public debate that is not in favor of the bioplastic industry is the use of arable land for making
plastics. With a still increasing world population arable land is a valuable asset in feeding feed the
world population (if the growth rates of 6.2 million tonnes in 2017 will come true, 0,02 % of the
world’s arable land is used for bioplastics).10
Bioplastics have very good outlooks in the long run but in the short term recycling non bioplastics can
be economically more beneficial. Even more when plastics are upcycled instead of down cycled.
There is a trend that upcycle companies like QCP11
have success which can hinder the fast
breakthrough of bioplastics.12
Import trends
The production of bioplastics will increasingly take place in South America and Asia. Brazil for
example is already situated in a good position because of the vast access to sugar cane. As the graphs
below show, from 2012-2017 production will increasingly move from Europea and North America to
Asia and South America.
Source: European bioplastics facts and figures
3 Target Consumers
An increasing number of companies is using bioplastics in their products, but the current customers
using bioplastics are usually the big multinationals. They are using bioplastics for two main reasons.
First of all companies like Coca Cola are always the main target for social movement organizations to
accuse them for not acting socially responsible so being an frontrunner in the areas like sustainable
technology is rather necessary for them. Another reason is the scale of the production. Bioplastics
can be specifically made for a specific product. With the huge daily consumption of bottles from a
company like Coca Cola production cost per unit are much lower.
10
http://en.european-bioplastics.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/EuBP_market_data_2012.pdf
11
http://www.qcpolymers.com/
12
https://www.rabobank.nl/images/industrie_update_april_2014_29650281.pdf?ra_resize=yes&ra_width=800&
ra_height=600&ra_toolbar=yes&ra_locationbar=yes

6. Heinz started a research project with Nike, Coca Cola and P&G for processing its tomato waste into
bioplastic which is supposed to be used by the latter three.13
Cuurent users of bioplastics are Heinz,
Coca Cola, Danone, Carrefour, Sainsbury, Billa, Spar, Hofer, Puma, Ford, Toyota, Mercedes and
Fujitsu.14
Besides The bigger customers other applications for bioplastics are increasingly visible and appear in
every sector of the economy. The Netherlands recently saw many initiatives of companies offering
their products made from bioplastic. For example the company Onora15
selling bioplastic coffins and
Gebrema16
making bioplastic flower pots (not a bad idea in a country where three billion flower pots
are used annually). Other companies combining their bioplastic activities with a special market are:
Pharmafilter17
(healthcare) Natural plastics18
(gardening) Unga19
(Toys)
4 Import barriers (FTA? Regulations)
Seedling logo20
Biodegradable and compostable products should be certified according to EN 13432 / 14995
standards.
Certificates for bioplastics21
The most important characteristic of PHAs is that they are biodegradable. At the moment four labels
indicate the biodegradable abilities of a certain product.
13
http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2349255/heinz-hurls-tomatoes-at-fords-latest-green-car-project
14
http://en.european-bioplastics.org/press/faq-bioplastics/#about
15
http://onora.eu/bioplastic-grakist/
16
http://www.gebremaplastics.nl/
17
http://www.pharmafilter.nl/
18
http://www.naturalplastics.nl/nl/
19
http://www.ungatoys.com/
20
http://en.european-bioplastics.org/standards/labelling/compostability-label/
21
STOWA 2014 10

7. - OK compost (compostable under industrial conditions, 55-60 C)
- OK compost HOME (compostable in a compost barrel)
- OK compost SOIL (biodegradable in soil)
- OK compost WATER (biodegradable in water).
Testing takes place under the EN 13432 norm. Pure PHA is compostable under milder conditions
compared to PLA (PLA can therefore be certified as OK compost and PHA as OK compost, HOME, SOIL
and WATER). Also the thickness of the materials will be taken into account.
Certificates for bioplastics
The most important characteristic of PHAs is that they are biodegradable. At the moment four labels
indicate the biodegradable abilities of a certain product.
- OK compost (compostable under industrial conditions, 55-60 C)
- OK compost HOME (compostable in a compost barrel)
- OK compost SOIL (biodegradable in soil)
- OK compost WATER (biodegradable in water).
Testing takes place under the EN 13432 norm. Pure PHA is compostable under milder conditions
compared to PLA (PLA can therefore be certified as OK compost and PHA as OK compost, HOME, SOIL
and WATER). Also the thickness of the materials will be taken into account.
European Bioplactics authorized two companies to issue the certificates. They are issues by Belgian
certifier Vinçotte and German DIN CERTCO.
5 Distribution channel
The Dutch bioplastic industry wrote a vison paper for a guiding role of Dutch companies and
knowledge institutes regarding the bioplastic industry which can be distinguished as followed:

8. Source: Vison paper; Creating a leading role for bioplastics in the biobased economy through the Dutch Value Chain
Bio plastics can be distinguished in biodegradable (PLA, biodegradable polyesters, starch based
plastics, regenerated cellulose and PHA) and non-biodegradable (BIO-PET 30, BIO-PE and BIO-PA)
types. The former is usually made from sugar cane, tapioca, maize, potato and sugar beets, while the
latter is mainly made from wood and cotton.22
Examining the distribution channel of the bio plastic sector is challenging. Many different product
can be attributed to the bio plastic family and all of these different plastics have their own
commodities and end targets. However the Dutch seems to have a positive outlook regarding the bio
plastic commodities. The Netherlands is a top producer of so called sugar crops such as sugar beet,
maize and potato. At the moment there is still an EU quota so countries can only produce as much
sugar as the EU allows them to do. After 2017 this will policy measure will drop providing the Dutch
with a favorable position. Now Europe is importing 10 % of its sugar, but after 2017 Europe will turn
into an exporter. Especially North-West Europe’s climate is suitable for growing sugar beets.23
New initiatives are also occurring to use other materials for ingredients. At the start of the year the
water board of the Dutch province Friesland started a joint venture with KNN24 25
and the Swedish
company Anoxkaldnes to make bio plastics out of sewage. They also aim to take only commodities
from their own region making it a local self-sufficient regional concept.26 27
22
http://www.duurzaambedrijfsleven.nl/wp-
content/uploads/2012/10/Infographic_Bioplastic_Deel_2_MB03.pdf
23
http://www.wageningenur.nl/nl/nieuws/Wegvallen-suikerquotum-biedt-Nederlandse-chemie-kansen.htm
24
http://www.knnadvies.nl/pages/bioplastic/knn_bioplastic/
25
www.nwo.nl/binaries/content/documents/nwo/algemeen/documentation/application/cases-uit-hypo-pdf-
originelen/bioplastic-uit-afvalwater-hypo-2013-3
26
http://www.stowa.nl/nieuws___agenda/nieuws/fries_pilotonderzoek_naar_bioplastics_uit_afvalwater
27
http://www.safetyanalyse.nl/komst-friese-bioplastic-fabriek-steeds-realistischer/

9. Four main determinants determine if Europe is suitable environment to build Bioplastic factories. The
four determinants are: the market, biomass, energy prices and policies (with the first two
determinants are regarded as positive in Europe and the second determinants as not).28
6 Competition
Corbion
The most important Dutch player on the bioplastic market is Corbion (Purac) which is the world
leader in lactic acids and lacticides (melkzuur en lacticides). The company presented their first PLA
made computer at the K trade fair in Dusseldorf at the end of 2013.29
In its annual report Corbion
also acknowledged that the growth rates of their bioplastic division was disappointing and less than
expected.
Corbion is actively involved in various fundamental research and development programs to develop
cellulose-based, non-food feedstocks as an even more sustainable raw material for PLA.
(The main growth driver is in poly lactic acid (PLA) bioplastics, where Corbion is leveraging its lactic
acid and lactide technologies, as well as its downstream know-how (polymerization and conversion)
to replace fossil-based plastics.)30
Corbion was only making the commodities for making bioplastics, but due to the disappointing sales
the company at the end of October 2014 decided to make bioplastic itself by investing 60 million
euro in a factory in Thailand which will produce bioplastic from a lactic acid derivative. The company
decided to do so, because chemical companies who were supposed to make the bioplastic were not
sure that they were going to buy enough of Corbion’s commodities. Corbionwill start building the
factory if 30% of the target production in Thailand is sold. The current sales of bioplastic commodities
is only 6,000,000 euro which is an equivalent of 1 % of the company’s revenue.31
Royal Cosun is famous for making sugar and frits, but recently they started the project with Philips
called: ‘Beets to Biopolymers’ with Philips to use the waste of sugar and potato production as a
bioplastic commodity.32
Alpha Enzymes33
develops sustainable chemical technologies using biochemical processes. Alpha
Enzymes mainly focusses on the following areas:
- Enzymes; isolation of valuable enzymes and conversion with the help of enzymes.
- Biochemicals; medicines, dyes and other valuable biochemical products.
- Bioplastic: natural fibers as PHA (Poly hydroxy alkanoats) and PLA (Poly lactic acid)
- Soil; soil sanitation with enzymes, research on the area of soil and promoting organic the
increase of organic elements in the soil.
- Research; the area of green technology
28
http://www.agro-chemie.nl/nieuws/europa-een-gunstige-plek-voor-bioplastics-v-gansberghe-tijdens-efib/
29
http://www.agro-chemie.nl/nieuws/s-werelds-eerste-op-bioplastic-pla-gebaseerde-touchscreen-computer/
30
Corbion Annual Report 2013
31
http://fd.nl/economie-politiek/900718/corbion-gaat-zelf-maar-bioplastic-maken
32
http://www.cosun.nl/SpecialPages/Archief/2014/Plastics-uit-bietenpulp.aspx
33
http://www.alpha-enzymes.com/

10. Rodenburg Biopolymers34
’ unique selling points:
- Specialist in (reactive) extrusion conversion of plant based raw materials into biodegradable
plastic compounds.
- Dedicated product portfolio to properties, processes and applications
- In house R&D, product development & technical sales support.
- Engineering of custom made biodegradable compounds.
The Dutch Biobased Performance Material program is a public private cooperation which started in
2009 to develop the biochemical and bioplastic industry in the Netherlands. The program now gets
its second episode. The ministry of Economic affaitrs is a partner and knowledge insitutes like:
Wageningen University, Eindhoven University of Technology, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, TNO,
Utrecht University and Wageningen UR Biobased Research. Private companies are also included and
can be regarded as the main companies (also big customers like Ahold and Heinz) in the Dutch
biochemical industry (and also bioplastic industry) are:
ABB, AFP, Ahold, Akzo Nobel - Powder Coatings, Avantium, BASF Nederland, Calendula Oil, Cargill,
Constar International, Cosun, Croda, Desch Plantpak, DSM - Innovative Synthesis, DSM – Resins,
FKuR, GreenICT, Heinz, HSV, Jus de Pommes, Meneba, NatureWorks, Nippon Suisan Kaisha, NPSP
Composieten, Nuplex Resins, Océ Technologies, Purac, RedOrange Food, Rinos, Rodenburg
Biopolymers, Synbra and Ursa Paint
7 Exhibitions
Event Date City Country
Top Packaging 22-23 October Helsingborg Sweden
http://toppackagingsummit.com/
ADDCOM
21-22 October
2014 Barcelona Spain
http://www.addcom-conference.com/
Forum Kunststoffgeschichte
22-24 October
2014 Berlin Germany
http://www.forum-kunststoffgeschichte.de/
“Materials Fair” in Central Saint Martins
29-30 October
2014 London UK
http://www.arts.ac.uk/csm/about-csm/
Packaging Waste & Sustainability
25-25 February
2015 Brussels Belgium
http://www.agraevents.com/event/Packaging-Waste-And-
Sustainability-Forum
Bio-based Materials 13-15 April 2015 Cologne Germany
http://www.biowerkstoff-kongress.de/
European Bioplastic Conference
2-3 December
2014 Brussels Belgium
34
http://www.biopolymers.nl/

11. http://en.european-bioplastics.org/conference/
Interpack 4-10 May 2017 Dusseldorf Germany
http://www.interpack.com/
K Trade Fair
19-26 October
2016 Dusseldorf Germany
http://www.k-tradefair.nl/
BioBased Economy Assen
20 October
2014 Assen Netherlands
http://bbe-event2014.nl/index2.asp
8 Buyer character
For years the Bio plastic industry is waiting for its final breakthrough, but economic at the production
are still too high to make bio plastic the final alternative for petrol based plastics. Although big Dutch
companies like Corbion agree that they are disappointed in the bio plastic (commodity) sales, the
companies keep relying on the potential of the product which still shows an annual 20 % and is the
biggest growing product in the chemical sector with huge potentials.
For the next five years some sector especially the automotive and electronic industry show a large
growth potential. Also because of the margins compared to packaging industry gives carmakers and
producer of electronic devices some financial space for using (the still a bit more expensive) bio
plastics. The automotive and electronic concerns are also usually bigger companies than food
producers making them vulnerable for public pressure to use bio plastics.
Beyond the many social aspects there is a technical aspects as well influencing the potential growth
of the bio plastic industry. Carmakers and electronic device manufacturers demand a lot of specific
characteristics from their bio plastics (like safety, fire safety, strength and the like) if bio plastics
producers are able to increase the diversity of their plastics and lower the costs, consumption is likely
to grow fats.
Large companies are likely to take a higher prices for their products for granted to avoid public
discontent. This is also an opportunity for the market because of their scale production per unit of
bio based plastic can decrease. The sector of Low end low margins products like discount foods made
by relatively small suppliers are less interesting because they usually lack scale size and do not have
the risk of social movement organization blaming them for irresponsible business practices. Almost
all products using petrol based plastics are a potential market, however than prices and quality has
to increase.
The trading update of the Dutch Corbion/Purac company shows us that bio plastic finds its way to
more products due to its growing heat resistance like electronics.35
35
http://www.corbion.com/media/press-releases?newsId=1861454