Going Green, Environmentally Speaking, with Plastics
Around the world individuals have been putting up the call for greener packaging materials. We have heard this call and are constantly rethinking our products, supply and disposal systems, as well as packaging solutions because we are in a position to use our expertise to lead the way.
Initial estimates say that most plastics take over 1,000 years to biodegrade (or photo-degrade) in landfills. We hear, and agree with, the calls to find smarter more environmentally friendly ways to make plastics but one of the challenges with creating plastics that are more easily biodegradable is that the product needs to wait until the user is done with it before it should start biodegrading. This has always been a hard trade-off, having packaging that will degrade quickly when the useful life is over, but stay robust and strong enough during the useful life so that you do not have to over-gauge it or worry about the packaging not being able to perform its duties, including strength and elongation.
What we have done is found an additive that we can add to our blends that will make them biodegrade more quickly, taking only between 9-12 months to do so. But the best part is that the bags made with this additive will not start biodegrading (or photo-degrading) until they are in a land fill. This is possible because the additive is designed not to start degrading until it is in contact with other materials that are biodegrading and their microorganisms. So your products will be safe in the warehouse, office, or on the shelf until the bag is disposed of, and then once its useful life is over it will quickly biodegrade and will help reduce the amount of fill in landfills. Ask us about our truly environment line of plastic packaging and environmentally friendly ESD packaging. Our bio-degradable plastics are available as tubing, sheeting (up to 8 mils thick), bags and foam.
Name:Â
Jon Chase
Company: PureStat Engineered Technologies
Phone:Â (207) 786-4790
Email:Â info@purestat.com
Website: http://www.purestat.com/
Date:Â 6-27-2013
