Dr.-Ing. Michael Thielen, born in 1961 studied mechanical engineering specialized on plastics processing at the Technical University of Aachen (RWTH), Germany in connection with the Institut für Kunststoffverarbeitung (Institute for plastics processing IKV).

After 14 years in the plastics Industry (Kautex Maschinenbau / SIG) as project engineer, sales manager and Head of Public Relations, he left SIG in 2003 to start his own PR conultancy firm Polymediaconsult.

In addition, he founded Polymedia Publisher GmbH in 2006. Today he's a PR consultant (Polymediaconsult) and publisher and editor in Chief of bioplastics MAGAZINE (www.bioplasticsmagazine.com).

Since 2007 he also offers services as a consultant on the field of bioplastics.

Before the background of climate change on the one hand and the limited crude oil reserves (and the rising price) on the other hand, bioplastics become more and more an alternative to “conventional”plastics. The term bioplastics is not 100% defined, but it is widely accepted to call bioplastics A): plastics made from renewable resources, such as starch (from corn, potatoes etc.) and B): plastics that are biodegradable or compostable. Many so-called bioplastics are both.

There is a wide range of bioplastics available today, a big portion of them being used in packaging applications.

The presentation will start with some brief definitions and introduction of commercially available bioplastics. It will cover applications (mainly packaging applications) made by thermoforming, but will also cover other applications. These are other packaging applications as well as (briefly) consumer electronics and automotive applications.

The presentation will also discuss end of life options (composting not necessarily be the number one choice for all applications) as well as questions such as land-use or bioplastics versus food.