Willich, Germany – What began as a fledging start-up in 2003 with just a few employees and a laboratory extruder has now, two decades later, grown into a respected player in the renewably-sourced plastics industry. FKuR today develops, produces and distributes broad portfolio of bio-plastic compounds, bio-based materials and post-consumer recyclates.
FKuR's roots stretch back to 1992, when it was founded as a research institute under the name Forschungsinstitut Kunststoff und Recycling (FKuR), from which it was later spun out as an independent company. From the very start, the focus was on sustainability - and how plastic products could be better recycled.
The original site in Willich has grown into the company's headquarters - a professional facility spanning more than 7,000 m². FKuR itself is now a mature group of companies that produces and distributes its materials from three locations around the world. Next to its headquarters, FKuR is also present in Texas, USA with its US marketing & sales office FKuR Plastics Corp., and in 2019 established the joint venture SKYi FKuR Biopolymers Pvt Ltd, a production plant in Pune, India.
As plastics recycling in Germany further evolved towards the end of the 1990s, FKuR started directing more attention towards the development of biodegradable plastics. This ultimately led to the birth of FKuR Kunststoff GmbH in 2003, and a new motto: ’Plastics made by Nature!’
"For us, nature was and is the best recycler. That's why, with nature as our guideline and a passion for plastics, we have developed a unique range of bioplastics and recyclable granulates," said Patrick Zimmermann, responsible for marketing and sales at the company.
Next to its proprietary compounds, FKuR’s distribution portfolio includes Braskem’s bio-based I'm green Polyethylene, the Bio-PET from Taiwan's Fenc Group, and, recently added, post-consumer recyclates from Kaskada Ltd.
Founder Edmund Dolfen said he was ‘grateful and proud that we have been able to make an important contribution to the sustainability of the plastics industry over the past 20 years’.
"FKuR's central philosophy is a new way of thinking about the future plastics age, as problem-ridden and successful at the same time as it currently presents itself. The search for sustainable solutions has become an important part of our DNA,” he said, noting that this has only been possible with the support of a dedicated team and the company’s partners - ‘customers, suppliers, developers and distribution partners'.