A new Life-Cycle-Assessment (LCA) undertaken by the Intertek Group for UK-based Symphony Environmental Technologies’ d2w oxo-biodegradable plastic carrier bags and bread bags revealed that the oxo-biodegradable bag performed 75% better compared to conventional bag in the litter category.
According to the assessment, the oxo-biodegradable bag and the conventional bags were almost the same in all other categories.
Symphony CEO Michael Laurier said plastic litter is a serious problem, which cannot be ignored by calling it a 'behavioural issue.'
"While only 0.75% of plastic carrier bags enter the litter stream each year this amounts to over 48 million bags in the UK alone as estimated in this LCA. The LCA confirms that oxo-biodegradable plastic offers real environmental benefits," Laurier added.
In 10 of the 11 environmental impact categories, the bio-based bag had the worst performance, though superior to the conventional bag in the litter-effects category, but inferior to the oxo-biodegradable bag.
The impact of oxo-degradable plastics in landfill is the same as conventional plastics, with no anaerobic degradation and no emission of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
The global warming impact of the conventional bags has declined by 19%, with the inclusion of 50% recycled content, which had a negative effect on seven of the environmental impact categories, due to extra transportation and the need to make them thicker and heavier for the same strength.
Plastic carrier bags impact can be reduced by re-using them more often, minimising the transportation needed for recycling and making them oxo-biodegradable.
