Oxo-Biodegradable PET Technology Developed
Oxo-biodegradability is triggered with exposure to oxygen, heat and UV light and therefore ensures long shelf life before the degradation commences. Plastic bottles will oxo-biodegrade in landfills, ditches, rivers and oceans.
26/11/08 Planet Green Bottle Corporation (PGBC) has commenced accepting orders for additive, pre-forms and plastic bottles which are manufactured using technology which the company claims renders plastic PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles oxo-biodegradable.
Oxo-biodegradability is triggered with exposure to oxygen, heat and UV light and therefore ensures long shelf life before the degradation commences. Plastic bottles will oxo-biodegrade in landfills, ditches, rivers and oceans, PGBC said.
Under contract with PGBC, UK company Wells Plastics proved that it could reverse the anti-microbial activity and accelerate microbial activity that causes degrading of plastic bottles that are perceived to last forever in landfills, ditches, rivers and oceans.
Andrew Barclay, Director of Technology for Wells Plastics, said: "Reverte mixes with the standard PET feedstock with no impact on the clarity and physical properties of the bottle. The contents are protected and the shelf life unaffected.
"Once disposed of and exposed to UV light and heat, the spent bottle commences its degradation profile, first breaking into small pieces, and then once the molecular weight is reduced sufficiently the material becomes available for biodigestion. PET plastic bottles manufactured using the Reverte additive can enter the normal plastics recycling streams without issue or adverse affect."
Patrick Rooney of Vancouver, Director of Corporate Development of PGBC, added: "We became enamoured with the potential of biodegradable PET plastic bottles when I read the research of Captain Charles Moore, a world-renowned marine scientist demonstrating that the world's largest garbage dump in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was as large as Africa and was largely plastic garbage destined to last forever.
"This 'plastic soup' has six pounds of plastic for every one pound of plankton. Much of our fish supply depends on plankton. We must start to change the paradigm of how we handle plastic refuse. The National Association for PET Container Resources reported that only 23.6% of PET bottles were recycled in 2006 down from 40% in 1996. We are advocates for recycling. However, until the numbers change, we need biodegradable plastic bottles now."
