Plates and cutlery, biopolymers to form mussel beds, textile, paint, dishwashing liquids, and even a sedan. These are only a few examples of the more than hundred biobased products presented at LandArt Diessen 2017. However, one of the recurring question of the visitors was the following: “Where can we buy these products? Why are they not available in my local stores?”.
The majority of the visitors was already familiar with the biobased economy, but did not know where to purchase biobased products. The results of our interviews form the basis for the publication “Biobased Economy: next steps”.
We need to step up our efforts in reaching out to our citizens. This booklet discusses the most recent developments and presents recommendations to increase the visibility of the biobased sector. We must involve the citizens more efficiently in the story of the biobased economy.
BioCannDo is a EU initiative, started in 2016. This EU project wants to present in a comprehensible fashion the importance of the biobased economy. BioCannDo, with the AVANS University of Applied Sciences among their partners, underlines the importance of story telling: biobased needs to invest in gaining the consumer’s trust.
On Wednesday March 7th at 12h30, MEPs Lambert van Nistelrooij and Franc Bogovič discussed the booklet in the European Parliament in Brussels. Franc Bogovič is a former Minister for Agriculture of Slovenia and a promoter of the biobased industry in his home country. All those who attended agreed that a European biobased label is needed to further increase the visibility of the sector. Currently, producers are not obliged to indicate whether a product is made out of biobased material. A uniform logo, introduced by Europe, would be much more effective and create clarity for the general public. March 7th also marked the launch of LandArt International. On May 10th Franc Bogovič will open the biobased art exhibition LandArt 2018 in Kostanjevica na Krki.
