Food Yesterday, Plastics Today: Chapter 2

Hello again! Are you ready for round 2 of biodegradable plastics?

Recall that bioplastics rely on their innate carbohydrate nature to degrade quickly. Oxo-bioplastics, as it is commonly termed, differ in this aspect. It contains ‘pro-oxidant substances’ that catalyse degradation of the plastic (Chiellini, et al., 2006). Cobalt, manganese and iron compounds are a few  such examples of pro-oxidant substances.

With the help of this chemical additives, the plastic undergoes an abiotic process where it is exposed to UV light, heat and oxygen (Fig. 1) (Ojeda, et al., 2009). The abiotic process results in oxidation of the inert plastics, facilitating the initially slow microbial decomposition. Eventually the plastics fragments and disintegrates.

Fig.1: Rapid degradation of oxo-biodegradable plastic variant compared with control plastic. Source: http://www.seraplus.com/tdpa.html

A local example of oxo-bioplastics is the trademarked R⁽³⁾ plas (Fig. 2).  

Fig.2: Source: http://www.winrigo.com.sg/index.html

Using waste wheat husks from local food company Prima Pte Ltd (Teo, 2010) and collaborating with NTU, Division of Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre (R3C) and A*STAR SIMTech (Ltd., 2013) Singapore-based company Winrigo has developed this trademarked technology to produce many green products (Fig. 3).

Fig.3: Products range from drawers to daily utensils.
Source: http://www.winrigo.com.sg/products_biocomposite.html

With usage of biodegradable plastics, nature can perhaps remain beautiful and untainted from the harmful pollution of conventional plastics. The world will hopefully shift towards biodegradable plastics, and conventional plastics will become part of history and a lesson for generations to come.

Literature Cited

Chiellini, E., Corti, A., D'Antone, S., & Baciu, R. (2006, November). Oxo-biodegradable carbon backbone polymers – Oxidative degradation of polyethylene under accelerated test conditions. Polymer Degradation and Stability, 91(11), 2739-2747.

Ltd., 2. W. (2013, August 17). Winrigo-About Us: Overview. Retrieved September 3, 2014, from Winrigo R3plas: http://www.winrigo.com.sg/about.html

Ojeda, T. F., Dalmolin, E., Forte, M. M., Jacques, R. J., Bento, F. M., & Carmargo, F. A. (2009, June). Abiotic and biotic degradation of oxo-biodegradable polyethylenes. Polymer Degradation and Stability, 94(6), 965-970.

Teo, B. S. (2010, August 24). GreenSingapore. Retrieved September 4, 2014, from Marshall Cavendish Business Information: http://www.timesdirectories.com/environmental/news/push%20for%20green%20plastic%20bags/636536