Biobased plastics are a hot topic today because of growing concern about global warming. The company making the biggest investment to develop engineering materials is DuPont. It’s becoming apparent, however, that there is a stronger demand at the retail consumer level than at the industrial level, at least in the United States. One of the early applications for DuPont’s new bio elastomer materials (not yet commercialized) could be Active Layer, an engineered “breathable” film used in fabrics to absorb and diffuse perspiration. In a recent meeting with Design News, Thomas Oury (DuPont’s Business Manager, Flexible Solutions - Americas) said: “DuPont Active Layer is a recyclable product. And it is already getting a huge market interest because of this feature. The recent work of DuPont in bio-based materials is likely to open ways for us to develop and market a renewable resource based DuPont Active Layer. But this is a longer term perspective for DuPont Active Layer, and at this stage it is too early though to say when this will be available in the market.” Another major application for this material is surgical gowns.