6/10/14 - A new, more environmentally-friendly kind of reinforced plastic will be unveiled at a conference this week by a local plastics producer. Asahi Kasei Plastics, based out of Fowlerville, has sent representatives to Chicago to unveil furniture made from the new material at a major design convention. While most plastics are reinforced with fiberglass, the new polypropylene is reinforced with cellulose, or tree fiber. Marketing Manager J. P. Wiese says other biomaterial plastics had a tendency to produce bad odors, but this new material eliminates that issue. The cellulose is collected from sustainably-harvested forests, and the energy saved by producing 500 tons of the new plastic rather than fiberglass-reinforced plastic is equal to more than 400,000 pounds of coal. Additionally, the biomaterial plastic is much more recyclable than fiberglass-reinforced plastic, retaining about 85% of its physical properties even after being shredded and re-cast ten times. Asahi Kasei has teamed up with a furniture manufacturer to demonstrate the plastic at NeoCon this week, but Wiese says it will likely take manufacturers a while to try out and commit to the new material. (TD)
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