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In this issue:
Print House
142 Kent Street PO Box 5544 Hamilton
Phone 0800 747 746 |
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For a long time now we have been recycling various plastic products - probably most notably our milk bottles.
But what happens to all the plastic wrappers we use? It would be a safe bet that the majority of them end up in landfill; however it is also well known that many end up littering the environment, waterways and oceans. At best this is unsightly, at worst it is harmful to marine and animal life. But, as luck (or should I say providence) would have it, there are environmentally conscious plastics manufacturers out there. A few years ago Oxobioplast Inc of Canada partnered with Wells Plastics of the UK to combine their plastics industry technologies in an effort to develop sustainable and technical solutions for today's environmental challenges. Their most notable development would have to be the Oxo-Biodegradable plastic which is programmed to degenerate at a given time. You can be forgiven for thinking, "Programmable plastic, now I've heard everything!" I have to admit, the very suggestion that plastic bags and other plastic products could be programmed made me curious. As it turns out, Print House now has Oxo-Biodegradable plastic film available and it is ideal for flow wrapping mail-out items. The Oxo-Biodegradable plastics degrade, then biodegrade, on land or at sea, in the light or the dark, in heat or cold, in whatever timescale is required, leaving no fragments, methane nor harmful residues. Made from a by-product of oil refining which used to be wasted means that nobody is importing extra oil to make it. How does it work? The basis of this technology is a pro-degradant additive which is added during the manufacturing process which alters the behaviour of the plastics. The amount of additive used (typically 1%) controls the lifespan of the product. The additive breaks down the bonds in the plastic which lowers the molecular weight and eventually loses strength and other properties. Stabilisers work to ensure that a sufficiently long useful life is provided for each specific application. For example a rubbish bag might require a useful life of 18 months before beginning to break down. What happens to Oxo-Biodegradable Plastic? The plastic, once fragmented and reduced to a molecular structure which permits living organisms access to the carbon and hydrogen will be consumed by bacteria and fungi. The process continues until the material has biodegraded to nothing more than CO2, water and humus, and it does not leave fragments of petro-polymers. The plastics can be recycled and will not harm the post-consumer plastics waste stream. What happens to the plastic in landfill? The Oxo-biodegradable plastics fragment and partially biodegrade to CO2 and water in the surface layers of the landfill, but the residues are completely inert deeper in the landfill in the absence of oxygen. They do not however at any stage emit methane gas - unlike starch-based plastics. How long does it take to Biodegrade? The length of time it takes for Oxo-biodegradable products to degrade can be &qout;programmed" at the time of manufacture. This could be as little as a few months or as much as a few years. The actual speed of Oxo-biodegradation will be affected by the levels of heat, light and stress to which it is subjected. At Print House we are excited to offer our clients environmentally friendly options that don't cost the earth. Source www.oxobioplast.com Oxo-Biodegradable Plastic Overview
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 Did anyone ever become what they wanted by remaining as they were?
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