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Gucci Launches Eco-friendly, Sustainable Soles Made of Biodegradable Plastics

Gucci is pleased to announce the launch of Sustainable Soles, a special edition of eco-friendly women's and men's shoes designed by Creative Director Frida Giannini and part of the Prefall 2012 Collection. This new project conveys the House's mission to interpret in a responsible way the modern consumer's desire for sustainable fashion products, all the while maintaining the balance between the timeless values of style and utmost quality with an ever-growing green vision. The Sustainable Soles include the Marola Green ballerinas for her and the California Green sneakers for him, both realized in bio-plastic — a biodegradable material in compost used as an alternative to petrochemical plastic.

Use of Lightweight Plastics in EVs Will Drive Penetration Rates & Growth, Forecasts Frost & Sullivan

With the electric vehicle (EV) production set to grow at a CAGR of over 80 per cent until 2017, plastics used in these vehicles will also see a tremendous growth. The need to increase EV mile range, paralleled by the inherent advantages of plastics — particularly that of lightweight — will drive penetration rates. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Strategic Analysis of Plastics in the Electric Vehicles Market in Europe and North America, finds that the market earned revenues of $ 0.5 million in 2010 and estimates this to reach $ 73 million in 2017. The research covers power train plastics, battery casing plastics, thermal management system materials and wire and cable plastic materials. As the electric vehicles market takes off, it is set to have a positive ripple effect on the uptake of plastics. "Plastics for EVs are driven by light weighting trends which, in turn, are fuelled by the need to improve EV mile range," notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analys

Umeco’s Structural materials operations in Derby and Manchester – UK have been awarded certification to AS9100C.

David Bernard, Managing Director Umeco Structural Materials – Europe, said: “The overall objective of AS9100C, the aerospace best practice standard, is to maintain and improve product quality and on-time delivery, and recommends following the quality tools routinely used for the automotive standard ISO TS 16949.” Compliance to AS9100 Rev C confirms strong management and commitment to quality improvement within Umeco while serving its Aviation, Space and Defence customers. Customers in other sectors are guaranteed comparable quality assurance through accreditation to associated standards and certification.  AS9100 Rev C introduces additional requirements, including: addressing project management; ensuring the product realisation process is planned and managed in a structured and controlled way; formally addressing risk management process; documenting process control to identify and address special requirements, critical items, and key characteristics; measuring on-time delivery a

Global PVC Market to Boost Steadily in Upcoming Years, Forecast Ceresana Research

Ceresana Research expects the global  PVC  market to reach revenues of more than US$65 billion in 2019. Now that the global recession has ended, the construction industry will again boost demand for  PVC . The average annual growth rate of 3.3% seen in the past eight years is likely to be surpassed in future. Ceresana Research forecasts PVC demand to increase at an average annual rate of 3.9% over the next years. With a roughly 53% share of global consumption, Asia-Pacific is the largest PVC outlet, followed by North America and Western Europe. Shares in demand of the individual world regions will shift significantly over the next eight years. The analysts from Ceresana forecast countries in Asia-Pacific to increase their shares in the global PVC market — mainly at the expense of industrial countries. In contrast, emerging and developing countries will benefit from an increasing per-capita consumption of plastic products. In addition, the construction industry is boosting in the

Siemens Develops Green Composite Material as an Alternate to ABS Used for Consumer Products

In cooperation with various project partners, Siemens researchers have developed a new recipe for plastic made primarily of renewable resources and CO 2 . The new material is an alternative to standard polystyrene-based acrylonitrite-butadiene-styrene ( ABS ) polymer. The new polymer is much "greener" than  ABS  even though the physical properties of the two materials are similar. In order to demonstrate how practical the new polymer is, scientists used it to create a vacuum cleaner cover. The new material is the result of a three-year project on research into CO 2  as an ingredient for polymers. The project, which was recently completed, was funded by the German Research Ministry. Until now, plastic has mostly been made from fossil fuels such as natural gas or oil. However, according to experts, plastic will increasingly be made of renewable raw materials in order to improve its environmental performance and conserve resources. Many of these organic polymers are alrea

Bio-on & FLOS Present their First Product Composed of Water-biodegradable PHA

Bio-on and FLOS present the world's first product made with PHAs, the 100% naturally water-biodegradable bioplastic. The first design object to be made in this initial test of the revolutionary material is Miss Sissi, the FLOS lamp designed in 1991 by Philippe Starck and now an icon in lighting design. The creativity, experience and global presence of FLOS are thus teamed with the innovation of bio-on, the sole owner of the technology to produce PHAs bioplastic. Made so far of polycarbonate, one of the most widely used plastics in industry, Miss Sissi passed the test with the new bioplastic developed over the last 5 years in Italy by bio-on (using Co.Pro.B by-products). The PHAs biopolymer is revolutionary because it is made from the waste materials of sugar beet and cane production (so it has zero impact on the food cycle), it requires no organic solvents, it is completely biodegradable in soil and water and it provides exceptional performance. "We are proud to be

Zyvex & ENVE Team up to Produce First Nano-Enhanced Carbon Fiber Downhill Bike Rim

The world's first molecular nanotechnology company, Zyvex Technologies, and ENVE Composites announced an exclusive partnership to provide a bicycle rim specifically for downhill mountain biking that uses the latest advanced materials comprised of Nano-enhanced carbon fiber. This new bicycle rim gives a significant competitive advantage to the downhill cycling market as proven during the last year in development and testing. The ENVE DH rim provides performance benefits to all downhill cyclists including those that compete at the highest levels of World Cup racing. ENVE used Zyvex Technologies' Nano-enhanced carbon fiber technology called Arovex, which is a carbon nanotube and graphene engineered composite material that uses the proprietary Kentera technology to create chemical bonds on the carbon nanotubes. It provides an advantage in toughness without compromising strength. It also protects from fracture damage. ENVE has an exclusive license for this advanced technology for