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Frequently Asked Questions |
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1. What is OPI?OPI is the Oxo-Biodegradable Plastics Institute. It was established in the Fall of 2004 to support and promote the acceptance and development of the global oxo-biodegradable plastics industry. 2. Why should I join OPI?The widespread acceptance of these products depends on the existence of informed legislators, regulators, decision makers and general public, the continued development of application information and infrastructure and scientifically based standards for its use. OPI was established to proactively advance these non-competing interests of the industry at the direction of its members. Its focus on OBP’s, rather than on a range of materials, ensures that OPI’s efforts are not diluted or distracted and provides members a resource that is dedicated to the development of their industry. OPI has access to some of the premier scientists in the field in the world as its advisors and to some of the most knowledgeable people in the industry as members. Its international presence ensures that developments from all regions are brought to its membership as opportunities or issues that can be managed. OPI provides an efficient and effective vehicle to advance your industry in an oft times suspicious and emotionally driven marketplace where misinformation abounds. 3. How do I join OPI?Both voting and non-voting memberships are available. Fees are levied based on the size of the organization and the level of participation desired. For further information contact OPI at: 4. What are Oxo-biodegradable Plastics?OBP’s are conventional plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene to which is added a proprietary mixture that accelerates the breakdown of the chemical structure of the plastic. These plastics are the main ones used in a variety of disposable packaging applications. The resultant breakdown products are then amenable to conversion by micro-organisms, for which these products are an energy source or food, into carbon dioxide and water; thereby returning otherwise intractable plastics to the ecosystem. 5. Is this a new phenomenon?No. The chemistry of this breakdown, called degradation, has been understood and written about for a long time. It involves the reaction of the plastic with oxygen in the air to form different molecules that are much smaller than the original plastic and molecules that can be wetted by water (water forms beads on the original plastic). Micro-organisms can utilize these smaller, water wettable molecules as food whereas they cannot use the original plastic. In conventional plastics without the additive package, this degradation reaction is very slow – taking many years. The various oxo-biodegradable additives accelerate or catalyze this reaction. The proprietary nature of the technology lies in the ability to “program” the product in order to control the speed and onset of degradation. 6. Why are OBP’s used?Over 60 billion pounds a year of polyolefins are consumed worldwide in single use applications. The products made from these polyolefins include things like grocery and garbage bags, food wraps and liners for diapers which, after use, are discarded. The properties that make these products useful also cause them to persist in the environment. OBP’s offer essentially the same properties as the untreated polyolefins but degrade into a form that is safely absorbed into the ecosystem in a timeframe that is similar to that of “natural” products such as straw, Kraft paper and leaves. 7. Are there alternatives to OBP’s?Yes - for some end uses. All alternatives have pluses and minuses. For example, paper bags are seen to be “natural” products. They, however, are not suitable for “wet” packaging, are relatively heavy, expensive, slow to biodegrade and consume more energy to make and generate more pollution in production than polyethylene. Some new man made polymers, derived from agricultural products or fossil fuels, biodegrade very quickly in the presence of water but are relatively expensive and may not have the same wet strength or processing characteristics as polyolefins. OBP’s ultimately biodegrade somewhat slower than some of these man made polymers but still in a timeframe comparable to many natural products that are routinely treated in landfills and composters; however, OBP’s use existing manufacturing infrastructure and preserve the desirable properties of the original material while adding only 5-20% to the cost of the product. 8. Are OBP’s used now?Yes. Supported by ASTM standard D6954-04, end users are adopting OBP’s as an effective and economical way to offer their customers an environmentally responsible packaging, covering or carrying material. Currently, they are used in over thirty countries. By way of example, they are used as carrier bags by major European grocery chains and as landfill covers in North America. 9. Do OBP’s actually biodegrade?Yes; independent third party testing and field trials in several countries have proven that they do. Those available today are amenable to composting but, because they do not biodegrade at the very high rate prescribed by ASTM 6400 (nor do tree leaves), cannot be claimed to be compostable. 10. Why should I consider OBP’s?OBP’s offer companies in the traditional plastics industry an effective and economical way of addressing the increasingly vocal concerns of governments and the consuming public regarding the environmentally acceptable disposal of single use plastic products. These products leverage existing production and distribution infrastructure and offer manufacturers and their customers the opportunity to meaningfully differentiate their products. 11. Won’t packaging using this technology disintegrate when it is being used? No. The additives used do not initiate the degradation process; they make it go faster once it has started. Heat and/or sunlight are required to initiate degradation and there has to be oxygen present. Additionally, the manufacturers of plastic resins add products called anti-oxidants in order that they can withstand the conditions of processing when they are made into products. These anti-oxidants are slowly consumed but, as long as they are present, the oxo-biodegradable additive has absolutely no effect. Products using this technology are engineered to have shelf lives of at least a year or two and useful lives of months to years, depending on end use. They are designed, and have been shown, to begin to degrade when they are discarded into common disposal environments (landfill, litter, compost) which are warm and/or sunny and have available oxygen. 12. Why is this important to the environment? Conventional plastics have excellent properties – they are strong, impermeable to liquids and gases, easy to process into complex forms and they are inexpensive. They are reusable and can be recycled. They are ideal for single use applications such as packaging but, because of their chemical inertness, they persist in the environment for a long time when they are discarded. Oxo-biodegradable technology allows for the retention of all of these good properties and it accelerates the rate at which these products return to the ecosystem when they are ultimately discarded in one of the following ways:
13. Are the additives in OBP's harmful to people or the environment? No. The active ingredient in oxo-biodegradable products, a transition metal salt (often of cobalt), is used at very low levels. Cobalt is a micro-nutrient essential for life. Studies have shown that composts made from oxo-biodegradable bags are not toxic to sensitive plant and animal organisms. A study by CRIQ found that composts made using these products passed tests they used to assess phyto-toxicity. These tests evaluated the germination and growth rates of cress and radishes, plant species chosen because of their sensitivity. Oxo-biodegradable plastics have also been determined to be safe for use as food packaging. 14. When oxo-biodegradable packaging degrades, doesn’t it just create millions of smaller pieces of plastic to pollute the ecosystem? No. It does disintegrate but the smaller pieces have a completely different chemical structure that makes them amenable to rapid consumption by naturally occurring micro-organisms. 15. Do oxo-biodegradable products meet international standards for degradable plastics? The only standards that currently exist are for compostable plastics and these were not designed for oxo-biodegradable products. While oxo-biodegradable products do not meet several of the requirements of these standards, the 2002 Quebec study found that they compost well and make high quality compost. In order to avoid confusion in the marketplace they are not advertised as being compostable The Oxo-biodegradable Plastics Institute (OPI), the international industry association, is working with the BNQ and others in order to develop a Quebec program to certify compostable plastic bags. A standard for the behaviour of plastics in landfill is in development at ASTM and a standard guide (provides methods but not pass/fail criteria), ASTM D6954-2004, that recognizes oxo-biodegradability as a viable process, exists. 16. Can Oxo-biodegradable packaging be recycled? Yes. Because they are conventional plastics with an additive, they are completely compatible with the existing recycle stream. Residual anti-oxidants that are present in discarded oxo-biodegradable packaging and in the other recycle input with which they are commingled means that the additives will not cause degradation. As well processors of recycled materials add anti-oxidants to ensure the stability of their products. Processors of oxo-biodegradable products currently recycle production scrap into both degradable and non-degradable products and large European supermarket chains collect used bags for recycle. We understand that Recyc-Quebec is currently planning an independent recycling study of several types of biodegradable bags, including oxo-biodegradable ones. 17. Are all biodegradable bags the same? No. There are two broad categories – oxo-biodegradable and hydro-biodegradable sometimes called starch based. These starch based products tend to degrade slightly faster but not to not be as strong as oxo-biodegradable ones (e.g. they are too weak to carry liquor bottles). They meet the international compostable plastics standards that were designed for them (but performed no better in the CRIQ compost study than oxo-biodegradable bags) but they cannot be commingled in the existing recycle stream because they have a totally different chemical structure than conventional plastics. Both have market niches where they have advantages.
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