BASF expands into Germany to increase its Ecoflex production capacity

BASF begins construction of a plant for producing its Ecoflex biodegradable plastic in Germany.

President of BASF's Performance Polymers division, Dr. Wolfgang Hapke:

"We are already successful in the market with our biodegradable polyester Ecoflex and the related innovation, Ecovio. The larger production capacities will enhance our position significantly. The capacity expansion will also enable us to respond even more effectively to our customers' wishes."

Ecoflex is much like polyethylene, but within a few weeks in industrial composting facilities it will completely biodegrade without leaving behind any residue. It is not strictly speaking a bioplastic: it is produced from biodegradable synthetic polymers. Ecovio however, is produced from 75% Polylactic acid (PLA) which is derived from corn and is therefore biorenewable. Both plastics are commonly used in packaging applications such as shopping bags, food packaging agricultural mulch films. 

The new plant will be built in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Once completed, the new plant will increase BASF’s production capacity for producing Ecoflex from 14,000 to 74,000 metric tons per year. BASF will also step up its production of Ecovio, its renewable Ecoflex derivative. Annually, the market for biodegradable polymers is growing 20%. BASF is already one of the world’s largest suppliers of biodegradable and bio-sourced plastics and this boost to production output will place the company well to compete in the growing European bioplastics market in coming years.