Biograde, expanding Australian based global supplier of resins derived from sustainable resources, have rebranded their business and product range to reflect changing technology and market direction. Under the new Cardia Bioplastics name, Biograde will continue to expand internationally as a developer, manufacturer and marketer of sustainable resins for packaging and plastic products.
Established in 2002 as Biograde, the company expanded to become a global business with their head quarters and Global Applications Development Centre in Melbourne, Australia. To ensure their long term internationally competitive cost base, the manufacturing plant and product development centre are in Nanjing, China. Cardia Bioplastics have offices in Europe and the Americas, and a network of distributors across Australia, the Americas, Europe and Asia.
According to Frank Glatz, Managing Director, Biograde, growth for their business is fuelled by the global trend towards sustainable packaging. Their key people are skilled plastics industry leaders recognised for their sustainable resins expertise. They hold a patent portfolio and a track record for creating products with their proprietary technology.
Part of this international trend towards sustainable packaging is also the growing certainty that ‘peak oil’ is coming closer. This is the point where global oil consumption overtakes new oil reserve discoveries, and crude oil prices will rise in response. Businesses know that higher oil prices will erode their competitiveness and their profit margins, and they want packaging and plastic products solutions based on sustainable resources.
Cardia Bioplastics announced their new branding at the AUSPACK 2009 exhibition in Sydney, Australia, where their contribution to the exhibition included a display on the Australasian Bioplastics Association ‘Bio Plastics Pavilion’ and participation in the specialist panel presentation at the Australian Institute of Packaging National Technical Forum.
Cardia Bioplastics deliver solutions across a range of sustainable resin technologies to offer each customer a choice of solutions for their packaging or plastics product applications.
Cardia Bioplastics supply the following products:
Cardia Biohybrid resins – These products are a blend of renewable thermoplastic materials and traditional polyolefins. Hybrid resins allow manufacturers to embrace sustainable packaging early with existing equipment, and enable them to increase the renewable content of their products by up to 66% and reduce their carbon footprint. This high performance range has a processing and application window and is colourable and printable.
Cardia Compostable resins – This range of biodegradable products meets international standards for compostability, including Europe’s EN 13432, the USA’s ASTM D 6400, Japan’s GreenPla, Australia’s AS 4736. These resins enable customers to offer fully compostable packaging and plastic products, with no additional investment in existing production equipment. Derived from renewable resources, the resins are soft touch, colourable and printable. Cardia Bioplastics can develop compounds for customer needs and offer a base compostable resin range.
Cardia Bioproducts finished goods – As a service to customers, the Cardia Bioproducts team offers design, development and production of ready to use finished goods, such as film and bag products. This service is suitable for customers that are new to the sustainable products sector and want to trial new goods, or those wanting assistance to time their change to the production of goods made from sustainable resources. With a focus on individual customer needs, Cardia Bioproducts finished goods can be manufactured from either hybrid or compostable resins.
As Biograde, they were a supplier of biodegradable packaging to the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and were awarded the Australian Chamber of Commerce ‘Australia-China Business Excellence Award’ in 2008, and won the 2009 ‘Clean Equity Monaco Conference Award’ for excellence in the field of environmental technology commercialisation.