Symphony responds to criticism of Bimbo oxo-biodegradable metalized packaging

Michael F. Stephens, technical director of Symphony, responds to criticism of Bimbo oxo-biodegradable metalized polypropylene snack packaging.
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Pakbec : I'm wondering: PR message? Greenwashing or Real environmental benefits?

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Michael F. Stephens: Definitely real environmental benefits—it reduces the potential for long-lasting pollution by plastic litter.
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Pakbec: How this product is profitable in environmental terms?

Michael F. Stephens: Policymakers have concentrated on waste, which can be collected, and have encouraged people to reduce, reuse, and recycle. But in no country will all the waste be collected, and some will remain to disfigure the landscape. This is particularly true of plastic, which can accumulate in the environment, polluting the land and the oceans for decades, and perhaps for hundreds of years. However, oxo-biodegradable plastic made with Symphony’s d2w formulation will self-destruct in a much shorter time than ordinary nondegradable plastic if it gets into the open environment. Oxo-bio plastic is made from a byproduct of oil refining, which used to be wasted, so nobody is extracting or importing extra oil to make it. See http://www.biodeg.org/

Pakbec: How does this product help to produce less waste in the environment?

Michael F. Stephens: It will remove itself from the landscape in a much shorter time scale than ordinary plastic.

Pakbec: The polypropylene degrades, what about the metallized coating?

Michael F. Stephens: The aluminium coating is very fine, and when the polypropylene has degraded, the aluminium will be absorbed back into the soil where it came from. Aluminium is one of the most abundant metals and makes up 8% or thereabouts of the earth's crust.

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