The Bioplastics Organisations Network Europe (BON Europe) has been recently formed as a collaboration of national bioplastics organizations from across Europe. BON Europe was launched in summer 2015 with the mission to connect initiatives around the bioplastics industry on EU level and in the Member States. The BON Europe partner organizations represent companies that produce, convert or use bioplastics that are biobased, biodegradable or both, as well as upstream and downstream sectors, such as agriculture and waste management.

The founding members include: Belgian Bio Packaging (Belgium), Club Bio-plastiques (France), Der Verbund kompostierbare Produkte (Germany), Holland Bioplastics (The Netherlands), and Nordisk Bioplastförening (Nordic countries).

European Bioplastics (EUBP) acts as the umbrella organisation and coordinates the BON network. The main objective of BON Europe, according to the news release, is to push for an economically and
politically favourable landscape for bioplastics in Europe. This includes promoting legislative
measures to encourage market uptake and eco-design of products, equal access as well as use of responsibly sourced renewable raw materials, as well as promoting an efficient waste management infrastructure throughout Europe that supports separate biowaste collection and organic recycling.

With a current production capacity of almost one percent of global plastic production and a growth rate of at least 20% per year, bioplastics are an economically innovative sector that can drive economic development and employment in Europe, the organization said. Bioplastics can contribute to reduce Europe’s dependency on fossil resources and to reduce European greenhouse gas emissions by driving the development of a biobased circular economy.