OAKLAND, CA — A new plant is entering the bioplastics market, but this one comes from the sea. ICIS Chemical Business reports that Cereplast plans to produce polymers made with algae sometime this year. The company said some potential customers have already expressed interest in algae-based bioplastic and it is getting its algae from companies that have algae biomass leftover from using it to make oil. Cereplast is planning to make resins for injection molding and thermoforming.

Belkin added four products to its Conserve line aimed at energy savings. The Insight is an energy-use monitor that any device can plug into to find out how much energy is being used in watts, dollars and carbon dioxide emissions. The Smart AV is a surge protector that detects when a TV is turned off and then shuts off power to connected components like video games and DVD players. The Valet is a charging station that can charge four devices at a time and turns off power to the devices when they are charged. The Socket is a timer that shuts off power to a device after a set amount of time.

Purina U.K. is reducing the boxes for its Go-Cat dry food by 10 percent. By removing space from the top of the packaging, Purina expects to save 195 tonnes of cardboard a year from its 950g and 375g boxes.

The newest additions to Timberland's Earthkeepers line of footwear include a men's boat shoe (right) and women's sandal. Both shoes are designed to be disassembled at the end of their lives, with 90 percent of the boat shoe able to be recycled or reused and 70 percent of the sandal able to be recycled. The shoes' leather comes from a Leather Working Group silver-rated tannery, and the Green Rubber soles contain 42 percent recycled material and can be returned to a Green Rubber factory for recycling. The boat shoe also contains 100 percent organic cotton laces and the metal bits in it can be reused or recycled.

The French National Assembly passed a ban on baby bottles that contain bisphenol A (BPA). The ban goes into effect at the start of 2011, and the government plans to discuss further restrictions of BPA in consumer products.

Cerealus Holdings and the University of Maine have received a patent for Holdout, a corn protein-based coating additive for wrappers, bags, boxes and other types of food packaging that come in contact with grease and oil. Cerealus calls its corn protein Zein, and uses it in place of the traditional perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a synthetic chemical that PFOA manufacturers have agreed to eliminate by 2015.

French cosmetics maker B Green has eliminated plastic from its eye shadow and face powder packaging by switching to 100 percent recycled cardboard containers made by HCT Packaging, resulting in a lighter and recyclable package.

_{Frog in algae - CC license by Flickr user grendelkhan}