Good news for oxo-biodegradable plastic from UK Government Report

24. One of the peer-reviewers pointed out that “it is unclear from the Report if the products studied are real alternatives. Some, like the paper or starch bag seem to have a very low (if any) real market share.” The packaging manager of Tesco (Britain’s largest supermarket) said on 20th October 2009 that the supermarket “does not see the value in packaging that can only be industrially composted” and that “local authorities do not want it, as it can contaminate existing recycling schemes.”

25. The type of composting used for the Report is “in-vessel” composting. This composting system “provides for the rapid high temperature composting of organic wastes in a continuous flow plant. The insulated silos, each with a capacity of 32 m3, are suspended above a concrete base in a large steel structure. A single silo-cage bank consists of between 8 and 28 silos, depending on the annual input or output requirements.”

26. To the extent that credit for composting has been given to starch-polyester bags, credit should also have been given to oxobio bags, because they too can be composted under those conditions.

27. The environmental impacts linked with the construction, maintenance and demolition of industrial buildings and the manufacture of machines, equipment and vehicles have been excluded from the primary data used in the study.

If they had been included, oxobio bags would have scored even higher, because the films from which they are made can be manufactured with the same machines as ordinary plastic and there is no need to re-equip factories or build new ones.

28. Symphony is now supplying d2w oxo-biodegradable technology through 63 Distributors to 92 countries and to some of the world’s largest companies, who have conducted strict due-diligence on Symphony and its products.

The technology has recently been recognised by legislation in the UAE after detailed inspection of Symphony’s laboratories and production facilities by the UAE authorities.

29. Oxo-biodegradable plastic is entirely consistent with a policy of educating people not to litter, and with a policy of minimisation, recycling, incineration, landfilling or composting. Oxo-biodegradable plastic can be dealt with in the same way as normal plastic during its useful life, but any type of plastic has to be collected and taken to a disposal facility at the end of its useful life.

30. However, unlike ordinary plastic, if oxo-bio plastic does not get collected it will not lie or float around for 50 years or more. It will harmlessly biodegrade in a much shorter timescale.