Thursday, 11 August 2016

Sateri to expand Viscose staple capacity by 1 million tons

Sateri has confirmed orders for machineries to expand its Viscose Staple Fiber (VSF) production capacity by 1 million tons. This will position Sateri as the largest VSF producer in the world by 2020. The total investment in the expansion is expected to exceed RMB10 billion (USD1.5 bn). 

Sateri is already the largest VSF producer in China with annual capacity in excess of 550,000 tons from its 3 mills in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces. The company supplies premium quality VSF to textile yarn spinners and spunlace nonwovens producers worldwide. “We believe in the future of VSF as a superior fiber for both textiles and nonwoven fabric. In the past one year, we have been making preparations for expansion and today’s confirmation of key machinery orders brings us closer to realising our plan,” said Mr Tey Wei Lin, CEO of Sateri. “The additional 1 million ton capacity will be achieved through brownfield projects at our current operating locations. The new capacity will come on stream in phases from 2018 to 2020, subject to market conditions. By 2020, we expect to have over 1.6 million tons capacity, making us the largest producer of sustainably sourced and manufactured VSF in the world,” added Mr Tey. 

Sateri is one of the largest viscose staple fiber producers in the world. Sateri’s viscose staple fiber is a natural raw-material and key ingredient to everyday items like textiles, and non-woven products such as baby wipes, and personal hygiene products. Sateri's annual production capacity exceeds 500,000 metric tons of viscose staple fiber. Sateri is committed to sustainable development and launched its Sustainable Pulp Sourcing Policy in 2015 and Sustainability Policy in 2016. All of its 3 mills including Sateri (Fujian) Fibre, Sateri (Jiangxi) Chemical Fibre and Sateri (Jiujiang) Fibre obtained PEFC CoC certification, Oeko-Tex Standard 100, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. With our corporate office in Shanghai, we operate a sales, marketing and customer service network covering Asia, Europe and the Americas. In particular, our well established presence in Shanghai allows us to be strategically positioned to service the China market, which is the world's largest and fastest growing market for viscose staple fiber.

Monday, 15 February 2016

French decree supports biobased and home-compostable bags

Berlin, 11 February 2016. European Bioplastics (EUBP), the association representing the bioplastics industry in Europe, welcomes the approval of the French implementation decree on single-use plastic bags, which was published by the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy last week on 1 February 2016. “The decree sets out clear requirements for the reduction of single-use plastic bags in favour of biobased, biodegradable and home-compostable bags. This is an important measure and supports the efforts of EUBP to emphasise the essential role of bioplastics for the circular economy in Europe,” says Hasso von Pogrell, Managing Director of EUBP.

In August last year, France introduced a ban on single-use plastic bags as part of the new law on Energy Transition and Green Growth. An implementation decree setting out the requirements and conditions in greater detail has now been approved and will come into effect on 1 July 2016. The decree applies to single-use carrier bags below a thickness of 50 microns, which will have to meet the requirements of the French standard for home composting and feature a biobased content of at least 30 percent. The minimum biobased content will increase progressively to 40 percent in 2018, 50 percent in 2020, and 60 percent in 2025. Appropriate bioplastics materials have been readily available on the market for quite some time, and manufacturers are eagerly waiting in the wings. Christophe Doukhi-de Boissoudy, president of French association Club Bio-plastiques comments: “We welcome the mobilisation of public authorities in order to finally achieve such a measure. It will allow biobased and biodegradable plastics stakeholders to harness the benefits of their research efforts to develop new biodegradable and compostable plastics that reduce our dependency on oil. The decree will help to reduce the plastic bags pollution as well as to revive economic activity for French plastics converters, as 90 percent of fruit and vegetable bags are currently being imported.”

The law makes France one of the first European countries taking concrete measures on plastic bags in favour of biobased and compostable bags in an effort to comply with the European Directive to reduce the consumption of lightweight plastic bags. It also underpins the benefits of separate collection of organic waste with biodegradable and compostable bags. The draft decree was amended to take the notions of the European Commission and the French State
Council into account. “We expect the French decree to serve as an example for European legislation and to contribute to the increased demand of sustainable bioplastic solutions,”
More information on the French law on plastic bags: http://en.european-bioplastics.org/