Ecospan, a manufacturer of bio-based products, has received the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) certification for its BioFlow brand resins, which are 94% bio-based in the BioPreferred program.
According to Greg Hoffman, Ecospan’s CEO and Chairman, the BioPreferred program certifies the products that are at least 25% bio-based. The company is elated to receive the BioPreferred labeling, as its BioFlow materials are 94% bio-based.
The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 approved this BioPreferred labeling program of USDA in order to certify the biobased products. According to this, the biobased products are considered for certification, only if biological components such as animal, forestry, marine or renewable plant materials are present. The aim of the program includes the reduction of ecological impact, improvement in the energy security of the US and stimulation of the biobased industrial base expansion.
ASTM D6866 test results have to be necessarily submitted by the applicants, because those results will confirm the bio-based content of product and records of the ISO 9001 conformance of the test lab. Samples of solids, liquids and gases can be tested by ASTM D6866.
50 biobased product categories are chosen by USDA, representing individual products over 5,100 in the market. USDA is expecting to include at least further 14 categories in 2012.
Source: http://ecospan.com/