Plastics from sugar cane coming to Asia

SINGAPORE ~ Braskem, a Brazilian petrochemical company, and Japan’s Toyota group have decided to bring to Asia what they choose to call  “green” polyethylene.
Braskem plans to produce the polyethylene from sugar-cane for the first time in the world on an industrial scale by 2011, it said in a statement.

Cooking oil fuels 4,000-kilometre car rally

LONDON ~ Fuelled only by used cooking oil, eight teams have completed a gruelling car rally from London to Athens in a bid to increase awareness of biofuels, according to the BBC.
The “Grease to Greece” race, brainchild of 34-year-old Londoner Andy Pag, took the teams on a 10-day “fat-finding” mission across Europe in which [...]

China’s ban on free plastic bags saving US$millions

BANGKOK ~ China has fulfilled its pledge to ban production of ultra-thin plastic bags and to stop supermarkets and shops giving away plastic bags for free.
In January the government said the production, sale and use of bags less than 0.025 mm thick would be against the law as of June 1. It also said that [...]