BIO-DEGRADABLE PLASTICS

8/7/2019 BIO-DEGRADABLE PLASTICS

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Masterbatch Additives for ManufacturingBiodegradable Plastic Packaging and Products


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Additives for Manufacturing Biodegradable

Plastic Packaging and Products

Marketing Considerations Biodegradation Mechanism

Manufacturing Processes

Applications New Developments

Basic Technology


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Basic Technology

one percent loading

no special manufacturing requirements

physical properties of applications unchanged

fully tested for polyolefins but preliminary results show

that it will work with PS and is likely to work with many

other plastic resins; more testing required but is

proceeding well

Bio-Tec additives make all polyethylene and

polypropylene plastic packaging and products

fully biodegradable


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Otherwise identical 40 m LLDPE blown film samples (the test samples

contained one percent load, by weight of the companys MBP while the

control samples were without the companys additive) were buried in the

same soil conditions for one month then removed and photographed using a

scanning electron microscope.

Photographs courtesy of Hyosung Corporation, Korea

Figure 2.

Study of Film Samples Buried in Soil for One Month

Control Test


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Basic Technology

Reduce,

Reuse,

Recycle, & Biodegrade

The three Rs of environmental

friendliness for plastic products make

better music as a little R(s)&B


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Basic Technology

the strength-to-weight-ratio for plasticpackaging and products is far superior to othermaterials thereby dramatically reducing theoverall amount of material used

the additives for biodegradation do notnegatively affect the strength of the plasticproducts (the plastic products do not need to bemade thicker when using the additives)

Reduce


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Basic Technology

many plastic products can be reused for other

purposes before eventual disposal

the MBA mechanism for the breakup of the

long polymer chains does not use heat, light or

mechanical stress as initiators therefore thingslike plastic shopping bags and coffee cans can

be reused indefinitely

Reuse


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Basic Technology

Recycling of plastic materials makes sense

when natural resources are truly saved

Plastic products with our additives can berecycled both by the manufacturer in theirinternal scrap regrind recycling and in post-

consumer recycling programs Additives can be used with recycled resins as

well

Recycle


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Basic Technology

All of the commodity plastic resins used in the

world today will take hundreds of years or

more to degrade naturally in the environment

Plastic products with our additives will

biodegrade to become some of the soilsorganic components in a hundredth of that time

or less

Biodegrade


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Marketing Considerations

An unqualified claim that a product or package is

degradable, biodegradable or photodegradable should besubstantiated by competent and reliable scientificevidence that the entire product or package willcompletely break down and return to nature, i.e.,decompose into elements found in nature within a

reasonably short period of time after customarydisposal.-- Federal Trade Commission Part 260. Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, Section

260.7(b); Authority: 15 U.S.C. 41-58; emphasis mine

FTC Guidelines


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Claim of degradable misleading if a product needs oxygen

and/or sunlight to degrade and product is mostly disposed ofin landfills where it gets neither.

A manufacturer makes an unqualified claim that its package is

compostable. Although municipal or institutional composting

facilities exist where product is sold, package will not break

down into usable compost in a home compost pile or device.To avoid deception, manufacturer should disclose that

package is not suitable for home composting.

Examples


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Tactic of some competitors and other interestedparties is to purposely blur the concepts ofcompostability under commercial conditions (ASTMD6400) with compostability under home compostingconditions and biodegradability as a generic concept

ASTM D6400 (and equivalent tests, i.e. DIN V54 900, et al.)Conditions

High heat

Moisture control

Oxygenation

High concentration of microorganisms

Myth: If a product does not pass the ASTMD6400 standard in the allotted time period it isnot biodegradable


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Are these products designed for composting at home, also?

No, the Compostable Logo identifies products that will perform satisfactorily inwell managed municipal and commercial facilities-ones that meet therequirements found in the USCCs Field Operators Guide. We will insist thatproducers use the appropriate language in the conjunction with the Logo to makethis distinction clear.

While there are hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of home composters,their piles or composting units typically do not generate the temperatures neededto assure rapid biodegradation of this new class of materials. For this reason,claims are limited to larger facilities.-- FAQ from www.bpiworld.org (website of BPI)

The Certification Program is limited to an assessment of whether a productpresented for review by an applicant will biodegrade and disintegrate inaccordance with standard D-6400-99 of the American Society for Testing andMaterials (ASTM) entitled Standard Specifications for Compostable Plastics,provided that to the extent products certified under this program are notcomposted under best composting management practices, the certification andlogo shall be deemed inapplicable.Certification Program for Products Made of Compostable Plastics --

Program Rules, March 24, 2000, pg. 4

BPI (Biodegradable Plastics Institute)


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Biodegradation Mechanism

The only condition that is necessary for a

plastic product with our additives to

biodegrade is that it needs to be in constant

contact with other biodegrading material

If a plastic product has at least one percent of

one of our additives, by weight, then the

entire product is fully biodegradable


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Home composting

Commercial composting

Landfills

Buried in, or otherwise in contact with, soil

Erosion control netting and fabrics

Agricultural films

Litter

Where are these conditions found?


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Warehouses

Store shelvesOffices

Homes

The proprietary, trade secreted technologystructures communities of microorganisms intobiofilms that produce necessary byproducts thatbreakdown long polymer chains

Anaerobic (without the presence of free oxygen)

Aerobic (in the presence of free oxygen)

Where are these conditions not found?


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Extrusion (blown or cast)

Injection molding Blow molding

Roto-molding

Manufacturing Processes


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Applications

Automobile and airplane parts

Film packaging and product

Food packaging Agricultural film

Etc.

Toys

Milk, shampoo, and oil bottle Any plastic product


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New Developments

Accelerator spray

Composting (biodegradation in 45 to 60 days)

Agricultural films

Use with other resins

Polystyrene

PVC

Etc.


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Conclusion

Make all PE and PP products fully biodegradable

No toxic residue

Manufacture clear or in any color with no appreciablechange in physical properties

FDA compliant for use in applications with food contact

Products can be marketed as biodegradable because they

will biodegrade aerobically or anaerobically and without theneed for additional reaction to heat, light or physical stress

and therefore will biodegrade wherever there is other

biodegradation occurring.

Documents

BIO-DEGRADABLE PLASTICS