New line of bags which are 100% oxo-biodegradable

MONTREAL - ECO II Manufacturing is proud to announce the launching of a very new line of bags which are 100% oxo-biodegradable. The main quality of these products is that they are totally degradable in less than 2 years at a temperature of 45-C, which is the average temperature of landfills, in accordance with ASTM D6954-04. In ideal landfill conditions, these products disintegrate in as little as 12 weeks. The ordinary plastic bag, takes over 400 years.

The Canadian company ECO II Manufacturing has introduced a new pro-degrading additive which enables oxo-biodegradable bags to be environmentally friendly while keeping their quality of being strong, watertight and durable. Being technically more complex to process, the majority of available ecological starch-based bags are more expensive to manufacture, and lack quality and tensile strength. Furthermore, they are not as durable since they are neither reusable nor recyclable in other plastic transformations. ECO II BIO 100% oxo-biodegradables are more cost-effective, of equal quality to regular plastic bags; they do not disintegrate before reaching the landfills and do not contain controversial chemicals.

ECO II BIO bags have undergone many tests by the Quebec Industrial Research Center (CRIQ) in order to validate their performance in various fields. The preliminary technical reports state that the ECO II BIO products are presently the only bags which show the fastest degradation process while still being the strongest. Furthermore, CRIQ validates the fact that they offer a wider range of recovery being the only biodegradable bags which are also recyclable.

This genuine product of the future is now available at most hardware stores, convenience stores and pharmacies in Canada. They will be officially launched at the Montreal National Home Show, starting March 14, 2008 (Place Bonaventure, stand 2102) and the Toronto National Home Show starting April 4, 2008 (Direct Energy Centre, stand 3645).

Response Posted May 2, 2008
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Letter to the Editor

Dear sir,

Your opening paragraph sums up the perpetuation of misconception, presumably due to ignorance on the part of the company launching these materials.

As someone who has spent over 40 years in the plastics industry and 20 years in the specific area of degradable plastics- both UV “degradable” in the early 1990’s and then as a founder member of Natureworks llc PLA compostable products and the more recent formation of Jim lunt & Associates. LLC.; I must comment that it is exactly this type of article that not only appears to be factually incorrect but also adds to the increasing confusion by consumers.

Oxo degradable technology, whereby an additive is used to accelerate free radical “degradation” of plastics, has been around since the 1980’s and in fact the claims being made even then, were challenged as misleading and these products were subsequently removed from the marketplace.

Now with the public awareness of depletion of non renewable resources, filling up of Landfill space and the increasing concern over potential health issues associated with certain monomers in oil based plastics, we see this same technology once again being re introduced as a viable answer to some of these societal issues.

Your opening paragraph sums up the perpetuation of misconception, presumably due to ignorance on the part of the company launching these materials.

MONTREAL - ECO II Manufacturing is proud to announce the launching of a very new line of bags which are 100% oxo-biodegradable. The main quality of these products is that they are totally degradable in less than 2 years at a temperature of 45-C, which is the average temperature of landfills, in accordance with ASTM D6954-04. In ideal landfill conditions, these products disintegrate in as little as 12 weeks. The ordinary plastic bag, takes over 400 years.

Firstly, Oxo degradable – suggests degradation in the presence of oxygen. It is true that polyolefin’s such a PP and PE will fragment in the presence of oxygen and sunlight when the stabilizers added to the material to prevent such degradation have lost their efficacy. It is also true that some additives such as heavy metals and other materials, will accelerate this fragmentation. However, such fragmentation has repeatedly been shown to be purely due to breakage of the polymer chains. There has been no reputable evidence that microorganisms are involved in any of this degradation either in a aerobic compost or a anaerobic managed landfill environment . There is also no reputable evidence that these polymer fragments are attacked by microorganisms. There is actually no bona fide published evidence that in a sealed landfill, or municipal composting that these products containing such additives will degrade to simple biologically assimilative or their direct energy recovery components .

I find it surprising that this type of fragmentation is one again being associated with biodegradation- which is degradation of a plastic due to the action of microorganisms –either in aerobic or anaerobic conditions. I see claims being made once again with no supporting evidence.

I, along with many consumers and I believe, the whole emerging biodegradable /biobased plastics industry, would really appreciate seeing definitive supporting evidence that these products truly are attacked by micro organisms and actually do degrade into the basic components of carbon dioxide, water or methane in controlled and defined timescales.

Today the only accepted definitions of degradability accepted universally, are that the plastics degrade to give either carbon dioxide and water in aerobic conditions, or methane gas under managed anaerobic landfill conditions, constructed to create reusable energy.

Is such information available and will the company provide such information so its claims can be substantiated by the regulatory organizations who protect the public interest to understand the true facts?

I look forward to reading a future article with supporting evidence to the claims being made or at least an acknowledgement that this evidence is necessary for the consumer to really know what is the best choice to make

My best regards .

Dr. Jim Lunt
Jim Lunt & Associates LLC


Reader Response - May 5, 2008

I have proof

I read Jim Lunt’s reaction and am completely baffled. Being from Missouri, after I received 10 gauge clear PLA film from Natureworks and their film producing partner, Bi-Ax, as well as the same gauge of oxo-biodegradable PE film from EPI and their film producing partner, Brentwood Plastics, I had both materials tested using a kinetic assay to determine biodegradation by an ASTM certified lab. Both materials presented microbial activity within 24 hrs. I have their tests and results in an emailable pdf and would be glad to share them with him. If a certified ASTM lab has no problem admitting both products will “bio”-degrade, the only difference comes in the amount of time this degradation occurs.

No, the ‘oxo’-PE will not compost in less than 180 days, but are we to assume having both options (biopolymers and oxo-biodegradable polymers is a bad thing for us. He isn’t playing fair. Isn’t turning a petrochemical derivative into something which will biodegrade in a few years BETTER than having it around for hundreds of years and never “bio”-degrading? And how can we possibly feel PLA is the only plastic that should be used when it has known limitations both in terms of his lack of flexibility, resistance to heat, water and the lack of proper disposal facilities to keep it out of the landfill where it certainly will wind up.

Scott McKye
President
KLEERTECH

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Letter to Editor

OXO-BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS ASSOCIATION

Sir, My attention has been drawn to a letter in your Journal on May 2nd from Jim Lunt about oxo-biodegradable plastics.

In summary, oxo-biodegradable plastics will degrade, then biodegrade, in whatever timescale is required on land or sea, light or dark, heat or cold, leaving no methane, and no harmful residues.

Mr. Lunt is clearly not aware of the scientific evidence published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and in many standard texts reviewing the evidence. He appears to be a technologist who must see micro-organisms actually growing on oxo-biodegradable plastics before he can accept that they are biodegradable as well as just degradable. If so he can find a graphic demonstration in my edited book Degradable Polymers: Principles and Applications, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Chapter 3. This chapter also describes the underlying science of oxo-biodegradability.

Dealing with what happens to oxo-biodegradable plastics in landfill. It is important to understand that, since they depend on oxygen to degrade, they disintegrate rapidly in the surface layers into particles that are harmlessly inert in the depths of the landfill where the air has been displaced. The contribution of degraded plastic packaging to the volume of a landfill is minimal.

It is not beneficial to the environment that plastics should anaerobically biodegrade in landfill, because they emit methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. This is one of the many problems with crop-based plastics, as well as with cotton, paper, and jute.

Another problem is the use of scarce land and water resources to grow crops to make plastics, which should be used for food production.

In the aerobic conditions of the normal environment, including the oceans, oxo-biodegradable material biodegrades like nature's waste lignocellulose, and contributes to the fertility of the soil by the formation of cell biomass.

I should be pleased to provide further information on the science of oxo-biodegradation of plastics, and would suggest that interested readers look at www.biodeg.org.

Yours sincerely,

GERALD SCOTT DSc, FRSC, C.Chem, FIMMM

Professor Emeritus in Chemistry and Polymer Science

Aston University, United Kingdom

Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Oxo-biodegradable Plastics Association

Co-chairman of the British Standards Institute Panel on Bio-degradability of Plastics

Scientific Advisory Board: Professor Gerald Scott (UK), Professor Emo Chiellini (Italy), Professor Jaques Lemaire (France), Professor Norman Billingham (UK), Professor Ignacy Jakubowicz (Sweden), Professor Telmo Ojeda (Brazil), Dr. David Wiles (Canada).

The Editor
Exchange Morning Post
Canada

editor@exchangemagazine.com
FROM Professor Gerald Scott, DSc, FRSC, C.Chem, FIMMM

May 8 2008

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Letter to the Editor - Biodegradability

Interested in seeing the information

Hello Scott thanks for your response. I would certainly be interested in seeing the information you have as would many other people in the industry.

I believe EPI technology is not the same as that used by Eco 11 manufacturing but it is, I understand based on a somewhat similar principle. To be clear -I am certainly not saying that material that will truly degrade into basic molecules such as carbon dioxide and water are not of value even if the time scales are longer than the accepted standards today. True complete biodegradation over a measurable time is naturally better than none at all. What I am questioning is the evidence that I am told is available to support the contention that complete biodegradation occurs. What I would be specifically interested in is the rates of evolution of carbon dioxide and therefore a scientific understanding of how long it takes for complete mineralization of these products under real life conditions.

One thing I have found is that some formulations do contain some percentage of starch or other biodegradable components and so will show initial biodegradation due to these components. I presume this is not the case in the material you have studied. So once again I look forward to the definitive information you have obtained to understand more clearly the results and how this really relates to the real life disposal environments.

Thanks for taking the time to respond and provide this information .

Regards

Jim Lunt


____________________
Letter to the Editor - Biodegradability

You are correct

Dear Sir. You are correct I had not heard or seen this website before although I have seen the presentations by many of your members. –thank you for pointing it out.

I must admit to be being overwhelmed by the amount of statements as to evidence for the true “biodegradability” of these products in so many environments . If such multiple statements are in fact absolutely true then it appears that these products really do offer the best answer to many of the problems of plastics disposal .

As a technologist, I still would really like to see the scientific evidence supporting the variety of claims made so that I plus others who may be interested, can really evaluate the information and judge for themselves the validity of the statements. I think it would be in all of our interests to see this information publicly available on the website (as opposed to having to buy a book to find it). Is this possible?

Also, as I have already stated, I am not confined in my thinking to these products meeting present day biodegradation standards. It is true that if a claim of biodegradation is made I do like to see evidence to support this claim and this goes beyond showing microbes attacking the surface since this just tells me that some component can be attacked. I would, therefore really like to see definitive evidence that the products eventually do completely mineralize to carbon dioxide and water – with some understanding of how long it takes in a particular environments being claimed. That is all I have been asking for.

Could you also inform me how many plastics does this technology apply to? I see claims for PE, PP and Polystyrene are there others?

Thank you again in advance for providing the substantive supporting information.

Dr Jim Lunt
Jim Lunt & Associates LLC