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1. What is a biodegradable bag?
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….Biodegradation is the breakdown of an organic compound by
micro organisms into CO2
, water and mineral salts of any other elements present
(mineralization) plus new biomass in a controlled environment by
method of composting…..
A product claimed to be biodegradable should have >=90% of the
total organic carbon being converted to
CO2
& water by the end of the test period (i.e. 180 days)…..
For products consisting of a single polymer, 60% of the total
organic carbon must be converted to carbon dioxide by the end of
the test period (usually 180 days); For products consisting of
more than one polymers, 90% of the total organic carbon must be
converted to carbon dioxide by the end of the test period
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2. What is a degradable or totally
degradable plastic bag (sometimes also known as
oxo-biodegradable bags)?
Degradable or totally degradable
plastic bag (sometimes also known as oxo-biodegradable
bags) is a plastic bag with certain percentage (usually 1% to
3%) of degradable additives added to it such that when this plastic
bag is sufficiently exposed to sunlight (UV), heat or stress etc, it
will trigger breaking down of the larger plastic films/sheet to
become smaller fragments. This process is also known as
fragmentation or disintegration.
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3. Will PE +
degradable additives make the bags finally biodegrade to become carbon
dioxide
and water?
Yes, but not in 180 days, even in a
controlled composting environment, the biodegradation cannot reach
the required 90% and therefore, according to the definition of
biodegradability, such product cannot be claimed a biodegradable
product.
In fact, without a time frame, all
materials are biodegradable materials. Even for a conventional
plastic bag (like PP/PE), it will be totally biodegraded into carbon
monoxide/dioxide and water in about 400 to 1,000 years.
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4. Why do
people want to make a conventional PE/PP bag degrade?
Many people think pollution caused by
plastic products like plastic bags is because plastics do not
degrade. They believe if they can make plastic degrades, then
there will be no more pollution because these bags will be out of sight.
Therefore, different metallic ions are added to make the excellent
performing plastics to loss its outstanding physical performance:
strength and elongation.
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5. What is the different between a
biodegradable and totally degradable bag(sometimes
also known as
oxo-biodegradable bags)?
There are basically three different
ways to turn a very long polymer (no matter it is plastic or others)
into numerous smaller fragments (also known as oligomers or polymer
fragments), being hydrolytic, oxidative and enzymatic means.
When such long polymers were turned into much smaller oligomers or
polymer fragments by any one of the three means above, we call this
process Degradation and the
substance being degraded a degradable substance. However, only if all
above fragmented residues consumed by microbes as a food and energy
source in defined time (180 days) and environment, then the process
can be called Biodegradation and the substance being biodegraded a
biodegradable substance.
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6. What is Oxo-biodegradable, what is the
different between Oxo-biodegradable and biodegradable?
OXO-biodegradable means oxidation of
conventional plastics when exposed to sufficient UV or heat source.
After such triggering of fragmentation, biodegradable may taken
place but in a much slower speed and cannot be completed in defined
timeframe for biodegradation i.e. 180 days in a controlled
composting environment.
Biodegradation has no such
prerequisite. No oxidation is required. The only
requirement is the present of microbes. Biodegradation can be
completed in 180 days (usually takes about 45
days to 90 days only) in a controlled composting environment.
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7. Which type does EnbioMat belongs to?
EnbioMat is a fully compostable and
fully biodegradable during composting material made of annually renewable
and bio-based resources,
and has been certified by
EN13432
(EU), ASTM D6400-04 (USA), ISO14855
(Int'l), GB/T19277 (China) and HS2001 (HK).
In a controlled composting
environment, a bag made of 100% EnbioMat will be completely turned
into carbon dioxide and water in less than 180 days
(usually it takes about 45 to 60 days only), without leaving any
toxic residues.
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8. Does EnbioMat contains
any conventional
plastics like PE or PP?
NO. All the ingredients used to
produce EnbioMat pellets are fully compostable and biodegradable
during composting and free
of any PE or PP.
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9. Does EnbioMat requires to mix with PE
to produce films by extrusion?
Not required and should not do so.
EnbioMat is well formulated that it can be applied directly in
conventional extruders for LDPE. The
addition of PE, even it is as little as just 1%, will ruin the whole
bag and make the bag become a non-biodegradable bag, despite the
fact that the rest of 99% is still biodegradable. This is
because according to ASTM D6400-04 or EN13432, any ingredient >1% in
the final product must be proved that it is biodegradable itself (1%
rule).
As PE is not a biodegradable material, therefore you should not add
any PE to EnbioMat during extrusion. This explains why PE +
additives bag should not and cannot described as a biodegradable
bag.
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10. Is EnbioMat biodegradable and
compostable?
Yes, bags made of 100% EnbioMat is
fully compostable and fully biodegradable
during composting. Testing done according to
ISO14855 (for international),
EN13432 (for European market),
ASTM D6400-04 (for
Northern America) and
HS2001 (for Hong Kong) have proved and certified that EnbioMat is
fully compostable and fully biodegradable during composting. Vincotte, Belgium has issued
OK Compost
Conformity and BPI, USA has issued
BPI Compostable to
us to prove that EnbioMat is a fully compostable and fully
biodegradable during composting material.
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11. Any testing certificates obtained for
EnbioMat?
Yes, EnbioMat is
specifically formulated to meet the strictest requirement for
biodegradability and compostability required by has been tested and
certified by:
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ASTM
D6400-04 (required in Northern America)
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EN13432 (required
in Europe)
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ISO14855
(International applicable)
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GB/T19277 (required by China)
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HS2001 (required
by Hong Kong)
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OK Compostable (Vincotte, Belgium)
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BPI (BPI, USA)
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12. What
are the main characteristics of
EnbioMat?
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Made mainly from annually
renewable bio-base materials such as corn starch, fruit
acids etc; contains NO any conventional plastics like
PE, PP etc
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fully compostable and fully
biodegradable during composting
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Can be processed directly
in conventional extruders, injection molds
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Can be printed directly
using normal ink
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Needs
NO more ultra-violet
light exposure, strong heat source or pressure to
trigger biodegradation, they completely decomposed directly
by microorganisms generally present in the earth.
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No
chemicals added to accelerate degradation, therefore no
toxic residue will be left after full biodegradation
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Release close to zero net CO2
(conventional plastics release net positive CO2
to the Earth )
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13. Is there any printing restrictions for
bags made of EnbioMat?
Technically NO, printing on EnbioBag is same as
printing on conventional plastic bags. However,
in order to meet ASTM D6400-04 and EN13432's strict requirements,
the total dry weight of the ink to be printed on the bag should be
less than 1% (1% rule), otherwise a biodegradable ink must be used. For
environmental & cost sake, we encourage simple printing, like a logo
and a simple statement....remember "Less is Beauty"
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14. What is EBM's
production capacity?
Currently maximum production is about
500 metric tons per month but can expand to 1,000 metric tons per
month in 6 months.
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15.
What are the main applications for EnbioMat?
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All types of bags like:
garment packaging
bags, t-shirt bags (or known as vest bags or
singlet bags), die-cut bags,
garbage bags (trash bags), bin liners, soft-loop bags, draw-string bags,
laundry bags, and other type of shopping bags, gift and premium bags
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doggie bags
(for dog poop) , mulch films,
agriculture films
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gloves, apron, raincoats, magazine
envelope bags, envelope bags for greeting cards etc
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16. How many days for EnbioMat to
biodegrade in natural wide environment or soil?
It is difficult to say because all the
testing are referred in a controlled composting environment.
In the wild environment, since temperature, relative humidity,
density of microbes, etc varies from one location to another, the
rate of biodegradation will vary accordingly.
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17. What is the shelf life of bags made of
EnbioMat?
In properly packed bags, the shelf
life is approximately 18 months to 24 months. Please see
paragraph 27 below as well.
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18. Is EnbioBag (Bag made of 100%
EnbioMat) transparent?
At about 30 microns (0.03mm), the
clarity for EnbioBag is about 70% to
80% the clarity of PE.
The thinner the bags is, the higher will be the clarity and vise
versa.
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19. What is the physical performance of
EnbioBag (bag made of EnbioMat)?
| Sample Ref.: |
Thickness (mm) |
Average elongation test (N) |
Average elongation test (MPa) |
The test was
carried out at 22ºC according to GB13022-91 |
| Sample I |
0.020 |
2.8 /
4.5 |
22 /
36 |
| Sample II |
0.030 |
4.5 / 5.4 |
26 / 32 |
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20. What is the
specific gravity of
EnbioMat/EnbioBag?
The specific gravity of EnbioMat
is 1.24-1.26 g/cm3
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21. Can EnbioMat be applied in injection
or extrusion for sheet?
Yes, but
injection grade is still under testing
and is not yet commercialized.
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22. Which
type of bag should I choose to use?
If you are going to use a bag for your
kitchen organic wastes, then since your bag will be disposed of
together with the kitchen organic at the same time, your bag must be
biodegradable and compostable as well. In this case, you
should use a fully biodegradable and compostable bag. A bag
made of 100% EnbioMat can serve this purpose.
If your waste is
not organic or non-biodegradable, you can choose conventional
plastic bags or you can still choose biodegradable and compostable
bags. This is because the greatest value of a biodegradable
bag is to be disposed of together with your organic waste.
When your waste is not decomposable organic, its value reduced.
However, for sake of environmentally friendly, minimize net carbon
dioxide release and to reduce reliance on non-renewable petroleum
resources, use of biodegradable, compostable and annually renewable
bag will help you to achieve this objective.
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23.
Can EnbioBag be dyed to become different colours?
Yes, EnbioBag's natural colour is
semi-transparent. You can choose to dye the bag to become red,
green, black......or white colour, but the master
batch for pigment
must itself biodegradable and compostable as stipulated in ASTM
D6400-04 and EN13432. In other words, the conventional master
batch
for generic plastics cannot be used because the carrier used is
normally conventional plastics only, e.g. PE or PP.
Currently as the supply for
biodegradable pigments is still very limited and most of them are
still not EN13432 or ASTM D6400-04 certified, therefore, we
encourage you to use natural colour of our pellets, i.e.
semi-transparent when thin, but milky white when the film is thick
(e.g. > 0.05mm (50 microns))
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24.
We want
to add PE to your EnbioMat pellets in order to save cost. Can we
still show your certificates to our buyers say that the bag is made of
EnbioMat and is therefore biodegradable and compostable?
NO.
According to 1% rule as stipulated in EN13432 and ASTM D6400-04, any
ingredient in the final product (like bags in this case) >1% in
weight should demonstrate that itself is a fully biodegradable
material (according to ISO14855 or ASTM D5338). If you add
more than 1% PE to our EnbioMat, and since PE is not a biodegradable
material, therefore, according to EN13432 and ASTM D6400-04, the
final product (bags) is no longer a biodegradable and compostable
bag.
In any case, unless
the bag is made of 100% EnbioMat (assume there are no other
non-biodegradable things attached to it, like printings, pigments,
tapes etc), otherwise you cannot show our certificate to your
buyers.
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25.
What is the different between EnbioMat produced by EBM and other similar
pellets produced by other suppliers in the region?
We don't know how other peoples work,
but working with EBM means you are working with a company which
provided only fully
compostable and fully biodegradable during composting material. Using EnbioMat means you
are using a fully compostable and fully biodegradable during
composting material that will
meet all the strictest requirement for biodegradability and
compostability. As at any time we cannot afford for any lawsuit
resulting from false claim of biodegradability and compostability,
therefore, all EnbioMat is specifically formulated to meet those
strictest requirement of ISO14855 (Int'l), EN13432 (European),
ASTM D6400 (North America), GB/T 19277 (China) and HS2001
(Hong Kong).
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26. Do you have
any samples? Are these samples free of charges?
Our samples are free of charge (limit
to 3 pieces for each type) but please be advised
that freight should be on fright collect basis. If you
agree, please send your nominated
service provider to pick up from us or let us
have your courier service company (like FedEx, UPS, DHL,
etc)
and your account number. We will arrange to send
samples to you in due course.
If you need tailor made
samples, please call us for special
arrangement and details of charges.
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27. How many days does it take for an EnbioMat
bags to biodegrade completely?
According to data shown in our testing
done according to EN13432, ASTM D6400-04 and ISO14855, in controlled
testing environments, our film will be fully
biodegraded to become carbon dioxide (CO2) and water
in just about 36 days to 45 days, and fully decomposed to
small fragments (with diameter <2mm) (this process is known as
composting) in about 8 weeks.
So does it mean EnbioMat bag can only
be stored for just about 8 weeks and must be consumed in 8 weeks
after purchasing otherwise the bags can no longer be used or will
disappear? The answer is NO.
This is because without rich microbes and proper temperature like
that in the commercial composting centre, biodegradation would not
take place.
If it does not disappear in room
condition, then does it mean it will be there forever and can be
used at any time? The answer is: Without microbes,
biodegradation would not take place and so it will be there forever.
However, its strength will be weakened as time goes by. The
shelf life is about 18 to 24 months in proper packed bags.
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28. Some
suppliers said their bags are starch mixed with PE (e.g. 30%+70% or
other %) and are still fully
degradable/biodegradable and have been certified by EN13432 & ASTM
D6400, why it is so?
We don't know why but we for sure do
not believe unless we have seen a report issued by any accredited
lab on a testing carried out directly on that product (already mixed
with PE).
We guess, normally the resin suppliers
are saying that their master batch (to be
sold to plastic bag converters) is EN13432 qualified only
[there is nothing wrong to say so]
but not the final product
(which may be produced by plastic bags
converters who may buy fully certified master batch and then mix
them with PE). Ironically is, very often these master
batches cannot be converted directly into a usable bag without
addition of PE or other similar resins. As a result, the bag
sellers would loudly say their bags are made of EN13432 qualified
resins and therefore the bags are EN qualified.
Will it be possible that the above
bags are really EN13432 qualified? The answer is: unless you
can demonstrate that PE is biodegradable in 180 days and compostable
in 12 weeks, otherwise according to EN13432 and ASTM D6400-04's
requirement (see below extracted from ASTM
D6400-04), these type of bags are definitely NOT
biodegradable bags.
a) For products
consisting of a single polymer (homopolymers or random copolymers),
60 % of the organic carbon must be converted to carbon dioxide by
the end of the test period (180 days), when compared to the positive
control.
b) For products consisting of more than one polymer (block
copolymers, segmented copolymers, blends, or addition of low
molecular weight additives), 90 % of the organic carbon must be
converted to carbon dioxide by the end of the test period (180
days), when compared to the positive control.
c) For products consisting of more than one polymer, each individual
polymer component, present at more than 1 % concentration, must
achieve the 60 % specification for homopolymers, as described in a)
above.
Unless you don't follow the above
rules, or unless you believe PE is a biodegradable resin, otherwise
very clearly the above explanations tell you at any bag contains
more than 1% PE is not a biodegradable bag and definitely you won't
be able to obtain a EN13432 or ASTM D6400-04 testing report for such
bags.
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29.
Someone said degradable bag (PE + additives or starch + PE), although
not completely/fully biodegradable, at least something eco friendly, a
step towards environmentally friendly, is it true?
Definitely NOT TRUE.
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One of the greatest Eco Friendly
activities is recycling. With additives added to plastics,
these types of plastic bags will immediately have very low
recycling value because the objective of adding these additives
is to make these bags decompose more easily and more quickly.
Decompose more easily and more quickly means greatly loss/reduce
strength/physical properties of bags which are the greatest
value of recycled plastics. With the presence of these
destructive additives in plastic bags, it makes plastic
recycling activities almost valueless or impossible. If
these type of activities do not stop, the supply of 100%
recycled garbage bags will quickly and greatly affected. Why
don't we try our best to recycle these valuable & recyclable
plastics but make it degrade into valueless fragments?
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PE + additives (or starch + PE)
plastic bags, no matter how they are being called (someone
called it oxo-biodegradable, someone called it totally
degradable plastics and someone even called they biodegradable)
are not compostable (if you don't believe, please ask US
Composting Council (USCC)) and therefore cannot be used for
kitchen organics. So, what is the point of making a very good
performing and with great recycling value bag degradable?
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Degradable bags as normal garbage
bags for normal non-recyclable waste (also non organic waste)
and then go to landfill or burning/incinerating. However,
since these bags have no chance to be exposed to sun light (in
fact should be Ultra Violet light) for long time, therefore, the
chance to be degraded is very low, if not impossible. In
such case, degradable or non degradable is meaningless and makes
no difference. If these bags are for incinerating, then
other than the issue of burning plastics which may have risk of
emitting toxic substance such as Dioxin, again it makes no
difference whether the bag is degradable or non degradable.
So again, what is the point of making a very good performing and
with great recycling value bag degradable?
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Since light, strong heat source
are critical to the decompose of a degradable plastics to become
numerous small fragments, does it mean you need to have these
bags to be in the wild in order to have chance to be exposed to
sunlight? So does it imply you are not going to recycle the bags
but simply thrown them away after use? Is such throwing away
behavior an eco-friendly behavior?
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degradable plastic is not a complete degradation process
in short period of time (e.g. 180 days), therefore, such
partially degradable plastics will create numerous
smaller fragments in the wild. With the wind
blowing, you can image how these smaller fragments being
scattered everywhere, rivers, agriculture lands,
reservoirs, sea shores, etc. You can image as well
if fishes in the river and those marine lives eat them.
According to Science 2004,
these fragments have been steadily accumulated in the
ocean, and, Flotsam Lab experiments showed that marine
animals consume microscopic bits of plastic, but remain
and accumulate in the digestive tracts of these marine
animals.
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According to
Algalita Marine Research Foundation's report,
plastic scraps can attract and hold hydrophobic elements like
DDT & PCB up to one million (1,000,000) times background level.
As a result, floating plastic resulted from those partially
degradable plastics is like a "poison pill" - which are
endocrine disruptors.
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According to
Mato et al Environ. Sci. Technol 2001, 35, 318-324, PCBs,
DDT and nonylphenols (NP) were deteted in high concentrations in
degraded PP resin pellets collected from 4 Japanese coasts, and
plastic residues from partially degradable plastics function as
a transport medium for toxic chemicals in the marine
environment.
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30.
What is the minimum order quantity (MOQ) for bags and resins, production
lead time and payment terms?
For bags, MOQ depends on the size and
thickness of the bags, usually in the range of 20,000pcs to
100,000pcs. In terms of weight, the MOQ is about 500kg or one
CBM (cubic metre). For raw materials, MOQ is about 500kg
or one CBM.
Depends on quantity, production lead
time is usually from two weeks to one month, from confirmation of
order/artworks and payment.
Payment terms: 50% deposit upon
signing of S&P contract, balance fully settled before shipment.
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