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 »  Home  »  Blogs  »  d2w - degradable plastics
d2w - degradable plastics
By Green Living Tips | Published  02/23/2008

I've been seeing the "d2w™-degradable" label on a few products lately, so I thought I'd check them out.

d2w™ is a registered trademark of Symphony Plastics and used to identify a range of degradable plastic products. When included in the normal manufacturing process, d2w causes plastics to break down into water, carbon dioxide and a small amount of biomass.

Plastics cause all sorts of havoc in the environment, partly because they take so long to break down and what they break down into can be toxic. Small pieces of plastic are often consumed by animals confusing the items as food. For example, About 96% of dead fulmars (a type of seabird) in Orkney, Scotland were found to have an average of 28 pieces of plastic waste in their stomachs.

Plastics with the d2w™ pro-degradant additive don't need microbes to start breaking down. The company claims this 'totally degradable' plastic is superior to 'bio-degradable' which requires the plastic to be in a biologically active environment before degradation starts.

Degradation rates can also be made to order - by that, I mean the amount of time it takes for an item to start breaking down can be factored into the production. For example, a shopping bag may require a usable life of a year or so whereas a bread bag might only require a few weeks.

Some of the other claimed advantages of d2w™:

- Very low price
- Maintains all plastic properties
- Good barrier properties
- Easy processing

A quick look at the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) didn't reveal a lot about what d2w™ actually is, but it doesn't appear too nasty, in fact, "Product is non-toxic by composition".

The d2w™ web site is very pro-plastic and I get the impression that Symphony Plastics see their additive as a panacea to the plastic problem; but while it may not be that, it could go a long way to decreasing the impact of the crude-oil derived plastics that we'll need to keep using for some time to come.




Michael Bloch
Green Living Tips.com
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  • Comment #1 (Posted by Anna Hackman)

    This concept is very interesting but after reading their information, I still have questions. When the plastics start to degrade do the plastic release new chemicals that can be harmful in the long term? Was there any third party testing to verify its safety around food products if it does start to degrade? I also noticed it was not being sold in the US. I wondered why. I am not a scientist but something just did not sit right with me. Perhaps it is my lack of trust when it comes to plastics. Anna www.green-talk.com


     
  • Comment #2 (Posted by rob)

    Anna, the technology incorporated into products such as D2W is generally a metal particle, I know for a fact that cobalt is the active metal in EPIs TDPI additive, I believe d2w uses a similar molecular weighted metal for its additive, EPI and Symphony have been locked in a legal battle for years over ownership rights to the technology that they use and i believe this is why it is not available in the states, It is widely used in both the UK and Australia. The product acts as a catalyst to speed up the natural degradation process that occurs in plastic. the metal particles attach themselves to the long chain polyethylene molecules and cause an oxidation process to occurr, effectively breaking the molecule into a smaller peice, It continues to do this until the peices are small enough to be consumed by microorganisms. Scientific tests carried out have concluded that no risk is posed to the environment or any organisms within that environment by either the metals used to degrade the plastic or the plastic itself. polyethylene is nonreactive and not poisonous. and when degrading does not release any gasses.
     
  • Comment #3 (Posted by UKGreen)

    The EPI legal issue has been settled for some time now with EPI losing a high profile legal case in the UK.

    D2W is in the USA - try this link for their bubble wrap product: http://www.bio-bubblepack.com/Features.htm
     
  • Comment #4 (Posted by Beth aka Fake Plastic Fish)

    I don't believe that D2W plastic is the answer to our plastic problem. The part of the plastic life cycle that's not being addressed is the beginning part before the metal additives are combined with the raw plastic.

    I wrote a bit about D2W on my blog:

    http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/2008/01/bittersweet-symphony-called-d2w.html

    One of the biggest problems of plastic are the raw plastic pellets, aka nurdles, which are polluting our waterways and concentrating toxins in the food chain. This pre-production plastic escapes from factories, railway cars, and ships and blows out to sea. D2W plastic will not solve that problem as it uses that raw plastic as one of its ingredients.

    Also, there have not been enough independent studies to tell us definitively what the long term consequences could be of the heavy metal additives that are used in this plastic to begin the degradation process.

    The solution needs to be fewer disposable products in the first place. I believe that reusables (bads, cups, bottles, etc.) are the way to go.
     
  • Comment #5 (Posted by Lily )

    i think it's a tad strage that i cannot find out what d2w actually is. on all the websites they mention it's uses and how it's an innovation to plastic degradability however i'm finding it particularly difficult to find out exactly what it contains and how it works in greater detail.
     
  • Comment #6 (Posted by Claudio)

    I think d2w is not the right answer because is something that involve plastic as well. Maybe could be something that comes from organic matter as corn starch and, of course, require less energy to be produced.
     
  • Comment #7 (Posted by Mike)

    For standards on D2W, please refer to:

    Standard BS 8472
    ASTM (US) D.6954 testing protocol
    AFNOR NFU 52-001:2005 (France) – Agriculture/Horticulture

    D2W is made from manganese, iron, cobalt and nickel. "Salts". These are normally burned off, at the drilling site. It has not been until the last few years that a commercial use for this by product of oil production was found.

    None of these metal salts have been shown to be toxic.
     
  • Comment #8 (Posted by Dean )

    can anyone tell me, if this degradable plastic is buried in a land fill so it is not exposed to oxygen, will it still break down ? Also, what happens when the plastic is sent to a recycle center, is recycled and made into a garment etc, does the additive stop the breakdown procees. In other words, how do you stop it if it finds its way into other PE made articles ?
     
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