Wednesday, Aug 11, 2010
Gulf News
Additive will be added to all mixes to help them decompose more quickly
Dubai An add-in ingredient to make plastic bags degrade was approved yesterday by the Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology.
By 2013 all plastic bags produced in the UAE will have to be made with this component marketed as being able to make plastic bags biodegrade without leaving residue or fragments behind.
The Ministry of Environment and Water is behind the move to eventually totally phase out ‘regular’ plastic bags that can take hundreds of years to decay, and have endorsed the use of biodegradable plastic.
Under the federal decree, a pellet-sized ingredient, or additive, will have to be added into the plastic bag mix at the production stage to help the bags gradually degrade over a period of months or years once they come into contact with oxygen in the atmosphere.
At least two billion plastic bags were made in the UAE in 2008, according to the Ministry Of Environment and Water with only 2,000 tonnes of biodegradable plastic produced.
A ministry survey released in 2009 revealed that of the 26 factories in the UAE manufacturing plastic bags, 14 produced 26,000 metric tonnes of plastic to be made into bags.
Wells Plastic and Eco-polymers has been approved by the ministry as suppliers of the additive.
eco-friendly
How it works
Plastic bags or film made with Reverte oxo-biodegradable pellets degrade in two ways after ending up in the garbage. Once exposed to sufficient sunlight and oxygen the bag will go brittle as the ingredients oxidise, and then biodegrade in the presence of microbes, ultimately converting to water, carbon dioxide and biomass.
– Wells Plastic
By Emmanuelle Landais?Staff Reporter
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