Futerro, a Belgian pioneer and leader in the production of polylactic acid (PLA), has signed a distribution agreement with K.D. Feddersen.
The Hamburg-based plastics distributor will handle Futerro’s PLA portfolio, sold under the name Renew, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia, and Bulgaria.
“By partnering with K.D. Feddersen Ueberseegesellschaft, we have taken another strategic step to accelerate the growth of our product sales in Europe, offering alternative, environmentally friendly solutions to replace fossil-based plastics,” said Dr. Benoît Lecouvet, chief commercial officer at Futerro.
Futerro manufactures its Renew portfolio at its factory in China. The facility opened in 2020 and has an annual production capacity of 100,000 tonnes. The company also has plans to build a 75,000 tonnes/year vertically integrated biorefinery in Normandy, France, for the production and recycling of PLA by 2027.
Futerro has developed technologies covering the entire PLA supply chain, from the fermentation of dextrose into lactic acid, to the polymerisation into PLA and finally end-of-life management via its patented molecular recycling technology known as Loopla.
PLA is currently the most popular bioplastic, accounting for 27% of global production in 2022. European Bioplastics expects it to account for 43.6% of production capacity in 2028.