OK Biobased Program: Four Stars for Telles, Wuhan Huali, Arjowiggins

Telles (USA), Wuhan Huali (China), and Arjowiggins Healthcare (France) have received four-star ratings for their products under Vincotte’s OK Biobased Program. A four-star rating means the product has been certified to have biobased carbon content of more than 80% as measured via ASTM D6866. Vincotte’s OK Biobased Program uses a star rating system to indicate the biobased content of products: one star for biobased content between 20% and 40%, two stars for biobased content between 40% and 60%, three stars for biobased content between 60% and 80%, and four stars for greater than 80% biobased content.

All certified products under the program undergo ASTM D6866 testing, which determines the biobased content of a product by measuring its radiocarbon (or carbon-14) content. Materials from renewable sources have known levels of radiocarbon in them whereas those from fossil sources have zero radiocarbon. ASTM D6866 correlates radiocarbon content to the percentage of the material that came from renewable sources.

UPDATE: OK Biobased is now under TÜV AUSTRIA

Four-Star Rated Products

NatureWorks LLC (USA) was the first company awarded by Vincotte with a four-star rating for all 40 grades of its Ingeo biopolymer resins. Other products awarded with the highest rating are:

– Telles’ Mirel P1003, a semi-crystalline polyester specifically designed for high modulus injection molding applications;

– Wuhan Huali’s PSM HL-300A, a granulated biopolymer made from corn starch that can be processed in common film blowing, sheet extrusion, and injection molding machinery;

– Arjowiggins Healthcare’s Natural Colors G1 Sterelisation Wraps, which are used as non-food packaging materials.

Since the OK Biobased Program’s launch in 2009, Vincotte has already certified many products including those of Novamont Spa (Italy), Indochien Bio Plastiques (Malaysia), Kingfa Sci. & Tech. Co. (China), Wey Hing Industrial Co. (Hongkong), Ter Beke nv (Belgium), and NAPAC Schweiz (Switzerland), among others.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 9th, 2010 and is filed under Biobased Products .