Recently, the DeSpar supermarket chain, located in the regions of Triveneto, Emilia-Romania and Lombardy, started selling Mater-bi compostable products, which have a biobased content of up to 50%. The supermarket has also introduced biodegradable and compostable products that comply with the EN13432 standard. DeSpar's Mater-bi bags are known to have a renewable energy content of between 30 and 40 percent, based on the amount of carbon C14 produced by the biomass.
In the Botrighe region of the Italian province of Rovigo, the Novamont site has successfully developed a biomolded biobutanediol (Bio-BDO) formulation obtained by fermenting sugar. This compound is a key component of Origo-bi polyester, which is synthesized at another Novamont plant and esterified at Patrica, Frosinone, and is used in the Mater-bi formulation.
The compostable shopping bags in DeSpar stores will be produced by a licensed partner.Nicolas Pedron, Director of Non-Food Procurement for DeSpar's ASpiag Service brand, said, "With this decision, we are continuing our commitment to sustainability, which began many years ago, and we are very pleased with this, which is an important part of the company's overall sustainability strategy."
In October 2016, Novamont (Eni Group) invested more than €100 million to launch the construction of the Botrighe plant on a disused site dedicated to the production of the biobased BDO used in such bags.Currently, the company has a capacity of more than 30,000 metric tons of biobased butanediol per year.
