PACKAGING BRIEFS Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Cereplast to Establish Italy-Based Bioplastic Manufacturing Plant
Cereplast Inc., a manufacturer of proprietary biobased, compostable and sustainable plastics, announced it is establishing a bioplastics manufacturing plant in Assisi (Cannara),Italy.

SPE announces president, president-elect, 2011-12 executive committee
Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) executive director Susan Oderwald announced the installation of Russell C. Broome as its new president, succeeding Ken J. Braney. Broome will be succeeded by the new president-elect, James S. Griffing, who is a Technical Fellow for The Boeing Co. SPE also announced the membership of its 2011-2012 Executive Committee, including the following positions: senior vp., Jon Ratzlaff, Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP; vp/secretary, Brent F. Strong, SP Mold LLC; vp/treasurer Vijay Boolani, Boolani Engineering Corp.; vp/operations Scott E. Owens, Chemtrusion Inc.; vp/event management William D. Arendt, Emerald Kalama Chemical Co.; vp/marketing Olivier Crave, O.C. Team; vp/membership, Dr. Raed S. Al-Zubi, RadiuSenaat (Pipes and Fittings) LLC; 2010-2011 past president Ken J. Braney, Thermoforming Solutions Ltd.; and ad hoc member/council relations Lance M. Neward, Turner Group. 

Cascades completes the sale of Dopaco to Reynolds Group for US$400 million
Cascades Inc. has completed the previously announced sale of Dopaco Inc., its paper cup and carton converting business for the quick-service restaurant and foodservice industries, to Reynolds Group Holdings Limited for a cash consideration of US$400 million.

BASF announces price increase for all grades of Styropor in North America
BASF will increase the price for all grades of Styropor expandable PS by $0.04/lb., effective June 1, 2011. This increase is necessary due to raw material cost increases, particularly styrene, a principle precursor in the production of EPS.

Bosch Rexroth back on course for growth
Bosch Rexroth returned to a growth course in 2010 and will make considerable gains again this year. The supplier for machinery construction, mobile machines, and renewable energies increased sales by 22 percent to €5.1B. The company expects to achieve double-digit gains in the 2011 fiscal year.

AEK Packaging expands warehouse in response to used packaging equipment demand
AEK Packaging has just doubled its climate-controlled facilities in Bensenville, IL, to more than 100,000 sq. ft. of showroom and storage space. The expansion allows the company to better showcase its diverse packaging machinery inventory, to merchandise the machinery in a manner that makes it easy for customers to inspect it, and to video record and photograph the equipment so that Internet buyers can see the equipment under power without needing to travel.

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