In Detail

biowrap* has been developed by D&D Mailing Services in association with world leader EPI. biowrap* is a plastic wrap containing a variety of unique additives, the result being, the plastic wrapping breaks down totally into water, carbon dioxide and a small amount of biomass.

biowrap* technology utilises the EPI additive combined with any blend of polyethylene or polypropylene resins during the standard production process.

The technology behind biowrap* introduces a pro-degradant into the polymer that acts as a catalyst and causes a rapid breakdown of the long molecular chains.

This pro-degradant is in the form of a metal salt that causes a breakdown of the carbon-carbon bonds in the molecular chains. The plastic product will become brittle and quickly disintegrate into tiny flakes. As the chains continue to reduce in size, oxygen is permitted to bond with the carbon and produce carbon dioxide. The molecular mass quickly descends to below 40,000u and at that stage, the material effectively becomes water wettable and micro-organisms can access the carbon and hydrogen. Carbon is used for cell wall structure and it is exhausted as carbon dioxide and the hydrogen as h2O.

The pro-degradant is introduced at the extrusion stage of manufacture when polymer granules are heater and melted to form packaging films. Only small amounts of additives are required to cause the degradation reaction.

Degradation is triggered by the extrusion process but is sufficiently slow during the initial stages of the scission for it to have no effect on the properties of the film.

Stabilisers are also included in the additive to protect the pro-degradant throughout the melting process and then determine the time scale to the onset of the degradation process.

biowrap plastics can be engineered to start to degrade in as little as 60 days or as long as 5 years, depending on the requirements of the plastic wrapping.

* patent applied for