Biodegradable PET bottle hits market

Jill Park, packagingnews.co.uk, 24 November 2008

 

Wells Plastics has responded to the challenge set by the Planet Green Bottle Corporation (PGBC) to make a biodegradable plastic bottle with the additive Repete.

 

PGBC has started accepting orders for the additive, preforms and plastic bottles that have been manufactured so as to render PET oxybiodegradable.

 

Oxygen, heat and UV light triggers the oxy-biodegration process, which can occur in landfills, ditches, rivers and oceans.

 

Wells Plastics' director of technology for Andrew Barclay said the Reverte additive does not affect the clarity, physical properties or the contents of the bottle.

 

He added: "PET bottles manufactured using the Reverte additive can enter the normal plastics recycling streams without issue or adverse affect."

 

PGBC's director of corporate development Patrick Rooney said the inspiration behind the project came from the research of marine scientist Captain Charles Moore.

 

Rooney said that Moore demonstrated that the world's largest garbage dump in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was as large as Africa consisting largely of plastic waste.

 

"We are advocates for recycling; however, until the numbers change, we need biodegradable plastic bottles now," he said.

 

Vancouver-based PGBC has offices in Toronto, Nebraska, North Carolina and Zimbabwe.