Biodegradable Plastic Technology

Biodegradable Plastic technology – an environmentally responsible solution for your plastic product, film, or packaging needs.

We are only too well aware of the pollution of the oceans by plastic items, where waste-management has failed. However, plastic should not be banned or taxed, as it is a very good material for protecting food and other goods from damage and contamination, especially useful for the poorest of the world’s population.  It is also shown to have good environmental credentials by Life-cycle Assessments  https://www.biodeg.org/subjects-of-interest/life-cycle-assessments/  Nevertheless, unlike some other materials, it can lie or float around in the oceans for many decades before it biodegrades.

For the past 25 years therefore, our scientists have been working with academic scientists to develop a type of plastic which will biodegrade very much more quickly in the open environment, and will not therefore accumulate in the oceans or leave any microplastics or toxic residues. They have succeeded, and we are making this technology available to the plastics industry under our d2w trademark.

The most important studies are as follows:

Oxomar was a three-year study on plastics in the marine environment, sponsored by the French Government, at  l’Observatoire Oceanologique de Banyul Sue Mer.  It concluded that plastic made with d₂w technology will biodegrade in the marine environment significantly more efficiently than conventional plastic. The Report can be found in English and French at https://www.biodeg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Final-report-OXOMAR-10032021.pdf

Following this study, the Oxomar scientists allowed bacteria commonly found in the open environment access to d₂w plastic film containing Carbon 13.  They found Carbon 13 in the CO₂  exhaled by the bacteria, proving beyond doubt that the plastic had been bio-assimilated by the bacteria.

Queen Mary University London reported in February 2020 that plastic products containing a d₂w masterbatch will become biodegradable much more quickly than ordinary plastic if they get into the open environment at the end of their useful life and will then be biodegraded by bacteria commonly found in the open environment, up to 90 times faster than ordinary plastic.  The Report can be found at https://www.biodeg.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/published-report-11.2.20-1.pdf

European Chemicals Agency In 2017 the EU Commission referred oxo-biodegradable plastic to ECHA because the Commission was concerned that it might create microplastics.  ECHA made a call for evidence, and after studying many hundreds of pages of evidence, including evidence from us, and from Intertek https://www.biodeg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Intertek-Report-to-ECHA-24.5.18.pdf they confirmed in a letter to us on 30^th October 2018 that they were not convinced that microplastics were formed.

Many methods have been proposed for preventing the pollution of the oceans by plastic, eg improvement of waste-management, reduction and redesign of plastics, recycling, composting etc. We agree with improving waste-management, and with reduction and redesign so long as it does not lead to the use of packaging materials which are less effective and have inferior Life-cycle Assessments.  The problem with recycling is that you have to collect the material from the open environment, which is usually not practicable, and there are serious limitations on recyclability of plastics.  See eg. https://bioplasticsnews.com/2022/06/13/michael-stephen-recycling-oecd-ellen-macarthur-foundation/

The same applies to composting, and in addition the type of plastic marketed as compostable does not in fact convert into compost.  See https://www.biodeg.org/subjects-of-interest/composting/

We therefore concluded that the only way to deal with plastic in the oceans is to stop thinking that we can prevent it in the short to medium term, especially in the developing world, but to address our minds to what happens to it once it gets into the open environment.  For this reason we have created d2w technology.

d₂w is a masterbatch which, at little or no extra cost, turns ordinary plastic at the end of its useful life—in the presence of oxygen—into a material with a different molecular structure. At the end of the process it is no longer a plastic, and has changed into a material that is biodegradable (by bacteria and fungi) in the open environment.

Stages of biodegradation:

1. d₂w biodegradable masterbatch is added at the manufacturing stage.
2. Film containing d₂w biodegradable masterbatch is extruded and then converted into bags or packaging.
3. The product behaves like conventional plastic during its intended service life.
4. After its service life, the bag or packaging may be recycled if collected, but :
5. If it ends up in the open environment the d₂w additive takes effect and the product begins to degrade in the presence of oxygen.
6. The product will then biodegrade in a continuous, irreversible and unstoppable process leaving nothing more than carbon dioxide, water and biomass behind – no heavy metals or other toxic residues.

Standards 

• British Standard 8472
• American ASTM D6954
• United Arab Emirates Standard 5009:2009 French Accord T51-808
• Saudi Standard SASO 2879

Added Value with d₂w®

• Suitable for food contact*
• Requires only 1% inclusion rate.
• Works with virgin and recycled plastic.
• Works with PE & PP.
• No change in the manufacturing process.
• Does not lose any of its original properties during its useful life.
• Customers receive full support from Symphony’s Technical and Marketing teams

For a detail explanation of biodegradable plastic, click here

Frequently Asked Questions

Marine Environment

Recycling

Life Cycle Assessments

Microplastics

Ellen Macarthur Foundation Report

*European Union Regulation (10/2011)

US – Regulations (21 CFR 175.300, 177:1520,and 178:2010) except for use during cooking.

Canada – CFIA Regulation.

Brazil – d₂w® is the first and only biodegradable technology to be approved by ANVISA. All components of d₂w® additives are on the ‘positive’ lists [allowing contact with food] of Resolutions 105 of 19 May 1999 and RDC 17 of 17 March 2008 Brazil RDC 326 12/2019, updated and incorporating MERCOSUR Regulation GMC / RES. No. 39/19.