Mitsubishi Plastics is expanding its operations in biodegradable plastic film and sheet. The company is a leader in biodegradable film products based on polylactide. It revamped its organization recently to support a stepped-up commitment to those products.

The main raw material for Mitsubishi Plastics' biodegradable film, ECOLOJU, is polylactide supplied by a new Cargill Dow LLC plant in Nebraska, U.S.A. That plant is the world's first large-scale factory for producing polylactide from corn starch. Its economies of scale make the renewable raw material cost-competitive with fossil raw materials.   Mitsubishi Plastics has been preparing carefully for expanded business in polylactide-based biodegradable film. The company has been obtaining limited amounts of polylactide from a Cargill Dow pilot plant since 1999. It has produced biodegradable film with that raw material and has furnished customers with sample shipments to demonstrate the products' potential. The startup of the Nebraska plant has enabled Mitsubishi Plastics to put its environmental film operations into full swing.   Look like corn? Customers say "Yes" Along with the increased availability of raw material, positive customer response was a factor in Mitsubishi Plastics' expansion in biodegradables. The trial deliveries of film and sheet have whetted appetites for the environmentally friendly products.   Sales have been strong, and the company has made impressive strides product performance. Those auspicious trends prompted management at Mitsubishi Plastics to move their biodegradable film program up a year.

Shin Caterpillar Mitsubishi has developed this hydraulic shovel especially for handling metal scrap in recycling work. The new model is in the popular Rega series and features a magnet to lift and manipulate ferrous material.

Diesel power could become lovable, thanks to Asahi Glass. The merits of diesel are compelling: energy efficiency (much better than gasoline) and power,   Look: No smoke! to name a couple. But diminishing diesel's appeal are its all-too-familiar emissions of smoke and soot. Now, a filter from Asahi Glass could overcome that drawback.   Asahi Glass, Japan's largest manufacturer of glass, uses a ceramic filter to capture particulate matter suspended in diesel exhaust. It has supplied the technology under the EcoSafe brand to makers of trucks, buses and autoparts. Most recently, it has supplied its system to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's sanitation bureau.   Sanitation authorities use diesel engines to power pumps and other equipment. They are as eager as automakers are to clean up their engines. Tokyo's sanitation bureau solicited bids for systems to get the smoke out of its exhaust. Asahi Glass submitted the winning bid, and the bureau will use the company's filter technology in a pilot project scheduled to run until March 2004.

Mitsubishi Estate is making the rebuilt Marunouchi Building an environmental showcase. The company has recovered the timber foundations from the historic old building--a Tokyo landmark--for recycling into paper products. It even has recycled most of the concrete and other material from the demolition site.   The new Marunouchi Building, which opens in September, is a model of energy efficiency. In addition, Mitsubishi Estate will recover food waste from the building's restaurants and other tenants to recycle into feed for hogs.   Ichikawa Environmental Engineering Co., Ltd., based near Tokyo, has contracted with Mitsubishi Estate to collect and recycle the waste. The project's planners expect to obtain about 1.3 tons of waste a day, which will feed some 200 swine.