This follows the news that Huntingdon Beach in California has cancelled its ban on plastic bags in response to a recent surge in support for them from local residents, and the decision of Arizona’s State Legislature to stop cities and counties imposing plastic bag bans at all.
Michael Laurier, chief executive of Symphony Environmental, UK specialists in innovative plastics, has hailed the decision as a victory for the consumer and a much-needed stand against environmental bullying.
“Plastic bags are far too useful to be banned or taxed without considering other environmental solutions” said Laurier.
“Plastic is made from a by-product of oil which used to be wasted, so the main reason for attacking plastic is that it can lie or float around in the environment for decades. However, this would not happen if the bags were made from our d2w plastic which has been proved to safely degrade and biodegrade in the open environment to a short, preset timescale without leaving any toxic or messy fragments behind.”
“It is effective on land or water, so if this new type of plastic is used for New York’s plastic bags the waterways round Manhattan island and the nearby ocean are not going to be clogged with bags, as some people fear, since this form of plastic will biodegrade much more quickly than regular plastic.”
Symphony said it seeks to find solutions to environmental and health problems by making plastic smarter, especially in the fields of biodegradable plastics, counterfeit protection and anti-microbial/anti-fungal technology.
The Oxo-Biodegradable Plastics Association also welcomed the news. It issued a statement saying: “These bans are also misguided because there is no need to ban plastic products in the first place, as they can be made with a smart polymer, called oxo-biodegradable plastic. Shopping bags made with this type of plastic, will not be around for decades.”
“It could be that the old adage is true “absence makes the heart grow fonder” but the decision was probably based on far more pragmatic reasons. Shopkeepers and consumers know that at the present time, there is simply nothing as cheap, flexible and useful as the plastic bag.”
