Media Contact: Frank Esposito
Email: fesposito@crain.com

German bioplastics compounder FKuR Kunstoff GmbH (Booth W17B) is importing material into the U.S. and Canada and hopes to have a North American production site by 2012.

Willich, Germany-based FKuR currently only has a single customer each in the U.S. and Canada, but interest in its product is growing, technology and marketing director Christian Bonten said in an interview at NPE2009.

“We want to have a sales staff and production in [North America], but we need to have about 3,000 kilotons (6.6 million pounds) of demand there before we take that step,” Bonten said. He added he was optimistic that FKuR could reach that goal by 2012.

FKuR makes compounds based on combinations of polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and similar materials. The firm’s suppliers include BASF AG, NatureWorks LLC and Tianan Biologic Material Co. Ltd.

Bioplastic compounds made by FKuR include Bio-Flex-brand compostable PLA blends and Biograde-brand cellulose blends. Markets for Bio-Flex include fruit and vegetable packaging, as well as bags for waste and mulch. Biograde is being sold into cutlery, bottles and technical parts.

Recent Bio-Flex applications include a net bag made by Giro Group, a maker of fruit and vegetable packaging systems in Badalona, Spain. Giro claims that the bag is the world’s first fully compostable net bag.

Ritter-Pen GmbH — a maker of promotional writing utensils in Brensbach, Germany — for Bio-Pen, a product 80 percent composed of renewable and compostable Biograde.

FKuR was founded in 2003 as a spin-off of Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT, a research institute based in Oberhausen, Germany. The firm ranks as Europe’s third largest bioplastics supplier, according to Bonten.