Degradable Refuse Sacks

d2w biodegradable bin bags

Our d₂w biodegradable bin bags degrade harmlessly into CO₂, water, and some biomass. This occurs within 12–18 months in optimal conditions. They leave behind no heavy metals or other toxic residues.

They are also recyclable, offering an eco-friendly solution to ordinary plastic bin bags. These usually take hundreds of years to degrade.

Our biodegradable bin bags are suitable for food contact according to European Union Regulation (10/2011). They also conform to British Standard 8472 on biodegradation of plastics.

How do biodegradable garbage bags work?

d₂w biodegradable garbage bags are made with our biodegradable plastic technology.

This masterbatch additive turns ordinary plastic, in the presence of oxygen, into an alternative material with a different molecular structure at the end of its useful life. As a result it is no longer plastic and is biodegradable by bacteria and fungi in the open environment.

Recent tests by Eurofins Laboratories show 88.9% biodegradation within 121 days. This is in accordance to ASTM D6954.

Do biodegradable bin bags contribute to pollution via microplastics?

Microplastics are the main problem with plastics. They are tiny pieces of plastic found on land, in the sea, and now even in the air we breathe.

Microplastics derive from ordinary plastics, caused by UV light and mechanical stress. The problem is that although these plastics are fragmenting, their molecular-weight remains too high for biodegradation. As a result they persist in the environment, getting smaller over a period of many decades.

Yet, if plastic products contain biodegradable technology—such as our d₂w biodegradable bin bags—and get into the open environment, the molecular-weight of the plastic will reduce quicker. It transforms into a waxy substance that is no longer a plastic. It will then become a source of nutrition for naturally-occurring micro-organisms.

Professor Ignacy Jakubowicz, one of the world’s leading polymer scientists, has described the process as follows.

“The degradation process is not only a fragmentation, but is an entire change of the material. The material changes from a high molecular weight polymer, to monomeric and oligomeric fragments, and also from hydrocarbon molecules to oxygen-containing molecules which can be bioassimilated.”

Can the d₂w biodegradable garbage bags be composted?

d₂w biodegradable plastic does not degrade quickly in low temperature “windrow” composting. Thus it will not pass the tests in EN13432 in the timescale specified. But it is suitable for “in-vessel” composting at the higher temperatures required by the new EU animal by-products regulations.