A clear, certified home compostable mailing film has just been created in Adelaide by local plastics innovator and manufacturer, BioBag World Australia. It was developed for Direct Mail Centre of Australia as an alternative to the current magazine single-use plastic wrapping that breaks down into microplastics if sent to landfill.
BioBag World Australia's Scott Morton is committed to the development of compostable packaging and makes agricultural film, freezer bags, bin liners and other compostable plastic wrap. As with all compostable wrap, this latest collaboration is an opportunity for a better environmental outcome because the plastic can be returned to the earth as organic matter and is certified to leave no microplastics behind, even in a home compost bin.
It all started when Direct Mail Centre of Australia Director Chris Lawson went to BioBag for a compostable wrap solution. He was looking for a plastic alternative to mailing film and he now has an earth friendly alternative for anything that is currently sent through the mail wrapped in plastic, including magazines.
Companies have a duty to be socially responsible, and those that send out tabloids or magazines can show a commitment to environmental sustainability by switching to compostable wrap, as this product now exists.
Lawson actually developed the idea as part of his MBA studies when he had to find opportunities for innovation in direct mail, in a changing marketplace. He identified the opportunity for product diversification into greener alternatives and that led to BioBag, and compostable wrap was born.
Compostable wrap is now being used already by a number of Direct Mail Centre customers, including a mail out to retirement villages around Australia.
The South Australian government leads the country in a number of recycling and renewables areas and is taking action against plastic pollution by banning single-use plastics, including oxo-degradable plastic, and supporting compostable plastic alternatives. BioBag’s Scott Morton is particularly pleased with the very confusing oxo-degradable plastic ban:
“SIGNIFICANT EVIDENCE INDICATES THAT OXO-DEGRADABLE PLASTICS DO NOT DEGRADE INTO HARMLESS RESIDUES, BUT INSTEAD FRAGMENT INTO TINY PIECES OF PLASTIC AND CONTRIBUTE TO MICROPLASTIC POLLUTION, POSING A RISK TO THE OCEAN AND OTHER ECOSYSTEMS, POTENTIALLY FOR DECADES TO COME."
Compostable bags are becoming as functional as traditional plastic polyethylene and with access to the leading Mater-Bi resin, manufacturing locally has given Biobags Australia the flexibility to customise compostable solutions.
(Yep, you saw it here. That's what Mater-Bi resin looks like!)
Humans can be so clever. How does it compare price wise? Is there any reason for any company not to switch to this solution? Tuesday, 28 July 2020