News 2008
October 2008
alesco at European Bioplastics Conference
alesco CEO Philipp Depiereux is attending the European Bioplastics Conference 2008 with a lecture covering the subject „films and packaging applications". The 3rd conference takes place November 5th and 6th in Berlin. With more than 300 attendees and numerous exhibitors the European Bioplastics Conference has turned to one of the leading events in the bioplastic-industry in europe within the last two years.
In this year, the visitors can expect more than 30 lectures and 20 exhibitors. Leading members from industry, science and politics will meet here.
September 2008
Beverages films: Less use of raw materials for more environmental protection
ECOSHRINK® is our new generation of film which is deployed at our renown customers with immediate effect. Advancing the known alesco film qualities our research department had one goal: environmental protection. The result is ECOSHRINK® a new class of film which not only is environmentally friendy because of its reduced thickness 29 my, i.e. less use of raw materials. But also during the transport and the shrinking the beverages film shows itself at ist best: A reduced thickness means less weight in transit for the same packing volume. Shrinking this especially thin film means further conservation of energy.
But a few things remained the same with the new ECOSHRINK® beverages film generation from alesco: The good machine runability, the brilliant imprinting (directly from alesco with up to eight colours) or the load-carrying capacity. Nine litres of pure refreshment wrapped in only thirteen grammes of film - no problem for our new ECOSHRINK®.
More information about our ECOSHRINK® beverage film reduced in thickness you´ll get here.
July 2008
Eco-power makes the alesco biofilms even more eco-friendly
alesco relies on CO2-neutral eco-power when producing the new compostable biofilms: As of now the company only uses renewable energies for the production of the compostable biofilms. Beside the protection of the environment alesco offers its customers an additional marketing instrument. alesco has already bought the power quantity and the certificate needed for the production of biofilms in 2008 at RWE, which also guarantees the energy's CO2 free production.
"We as a company are responsible for our environment and our descendants. For this reason we pondered on how to produce our compostable biofilms as resource-protecting as possible", says Philipp Depiereux, alesco manager.
With the exclusive use of CO2-neutral eco power during the production of biofilms this approach is consequently pursued when purchasing energy. Beside the compostability of the films which are certified with the seedling according to standard EN 13432 the use of C02-neutral eco power is another sales argument for the eco friendly packaging solutions at the point-of-sale.
Click here to find the certificat for "clima an energy" of the TÜV SOUTH Industrie Service GmbH (436.62 KB, PDF)
July 2008
alesco biofilms for brochures start with a staff magazine of a Dutch oil giant.
Positive performance for alesco: The film manufacturer from Langerwehe tests its new compostable biofilms for brochures under real production conditions for the first time. The eco-friendly film received its premiere as an outer packaging of the new staff magazine of a Dutch oil company. „Sustainability is a very important headword when choosing our films", says Philipp Depiereux, alesco managing director. The Dutch packaging specialist BrinkOmega was delighted with the first test run of the 20 µm thin film, too.
The whole conception of the staff magazine banks on sustainable economy - so biofilms for brochures from alesco are a good match. 18,000 magazines are posted eco-friendly and safely to the employees' homes ten times a year.
After the presentation of the compostable bio bags made of renewable raw materials at the interpack 2008 in Düsseldorf the biofilms for brochures is another application of biofilms presented by the packaging specialist from Langerwehe. Further products of this new packaging area will follow in the coming months.
June 2008
alesco informs its customers in good time: raw material prices go up
As of 1 July, 2008 the raw material suppliers increase their prices again. alesco informs its customers about this negative situation in good time. As a manufacturer of flexible packagings alesco is dependent on the raw material suppliers. alesco has to pass on these price increases to its customers.
Sabic, one of alesco's largest raw material suppliers announced via press release (www.sabic.eu/news-media-relations/news/_en/sabiceuropeto_005.htm) that the prices for all PE-granulate materials will be increased by € 200 per ton as of 1 July, 2008. This stands for an increase of roughly 15 percent. On request we meanwhile got informed that the other suppliers of raw material are also going to follow suit.
The reason for the continuous and currently jumpy rise in price is the zooming price of oil. That increases the prices of the intermediate products naphtha and monomers which lead to an increased price of polymer. Eventually, the manufacturers of granulate materials have to adjust their prices to the situation in the market (please click here (611.52 KB, JPG) to see a graphic concerning the reasons).
Additionally, Europe is confronted with an unfavourable situation in the world market: The worldwide pricing pressure leads to an increased demand. Quantities which cannot be sold in Europe are exported to the regions of growth, such as Asia and the ones of the United States of America - at the same prices.
We sincerely regret the negative development of prices for us and our customers. "By no means the quality of our products will suffer", manager Karl Heinz Thielen says. alesco individually informs its customers about the development and the particular price rises.
June 2008
alesco know-how is online
Stephan Wilkens, head of the quality assurance and coordinator of projects in terms of the new bio-coex-film at alesco is as of now part of the brain trust of the independent biofilm information platform www.organic-plastics.com.
The website offers information about the subject biofilms. As of now Stephan Wilkens provides his expert knowledge to inform companies and consumers about the new class of film.
organic-plastics.com has already got a large online-encyclopedia which answers the FAQs about biofilms in English and German. The users may also ask questions to the brain trust. These questions will also be added to the encyclopedia. Regular articles written of experts will inform the professional circles and interested people about the latest news. A collection of links completes the supply of information.
Mei 2008
Een positief resultaat op interpack: biofolie van alescoDe directie van alesco heeft een positieve balans getrokken uit de eerste voorstelling van onze biofolie op de interpackbeurs 2008 in Düsseldorf. De laatste dag van de beurs informeerde de heer T. Rachel, Staatssecretaris bij het federaal ministerie van educatie en ontwikkeling , en lid van de Bundestag, zich over de nieuwe generatie biofolie van alesco.
Ondernemingen uit allerhande continenten toonden gedurende de zeven beursdagen hun interesse in de composteerbare coex-biofolie op basis van hernieuwbare grondstoffen. Biofolie uit 100% PLA is wel kristalhelder maar is absoluut niet flexibel en kan enkel in mono-kwaliteit geproduceerd worden. Daarentegen heeft de nieuwe biofolie van alesco dankzij de produktie in coex, een uitstekende barrière-eigenschap, een hogere flexibiliteit en een heldere contacttransparantie. De biofolie van alesco zal eerst en vooral ingezet worden als zak. Maar de interesse is er niet enkel en alleen voor het verpakken van fruit en groenten in zakjes. Ook voor vele andere toepassingsmogelijkheden werd gedurende de beurs informatie aangevraagd bij de folieproducent uit Langerwehe.
Staatsecretaris van ontwikkeling Mr. Thomas Rachel, was bij zijn bezoek aan de alesco stand, zeer enthousiast over de ontwikkelingen uit Langerwehe. "Het is een zeer innovatief product dat zeker weldra in gans Europa gekend zal zijn" aldus dhr. Rachel. "Zulke vernieuwingen zouden er meer moeten zijn, zodat we een waardevolle bijdrage kunnen leveren tot het behoud van de natuur". In tegenstelling tot de gekende plastiekzakken kan de biofolie, op basis van hernieuwbare grondstoffen, gewoon thuis door de consument in de groene ton gegooid worden.
28th January, 2008
After almost three years of development and half a year of intensive test series DIN CERTO officially confirmed by two certificates the biodegradation of the new alesco bio films made of renewable raw materials.
The tubular- and flat films as well as the tailor-made carriers and bags for food- and non-food-packagings are the first multi-layer films which get this seal. The granules which are used for the production of the films are made of renewable raw materials. Therefore, at the end of their product-life the bio films can be returned to the raw-material-cycle via bio bins or compost.
"The responsibility for our environment and our children/descendants/progeny lies with us as a manufacturer of packagings. Therefore we not only thought about prevention of waste when we developed our bio films but also about a sustainably eco-friendly work throughout all the steps which are needed for producing the packaging" says Philipp Depiereux, managing director. The result is an eco-friendly bio film with its own features and, in terms of strength, brilliance and printing, comparable attributes to the conventional film.
The official introduction of the tubular- and flat films as well as the tailor-made bags will be at the Interpack 2008 fair in April in Düsseldorf.
