Eight organizations, including The Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA), RECOUP, FPA, ESA and Greenpeace have written an open letter to DEFRA’s secretary of state, George Eustice.
Request for Total Ban on Oxo Biodegradables
The letter requests him to consider a total ban on the use, sale and distribution in the UK of conventional non-biodegradable plastics containing additives, which are meant to accelerate the fragmentation of plastics into microplastics. Such plastics are variously known as ‘oxo degradable’, ‘oxo biodegradable’, ‘oxo fragmentable’, ‘bio-assimilable’.
The associations pointed out that the UK voted for the European Single Use Plastics Directive, which includes the clause at Article 5 that “
Member States shall prohibit the placing on the market of the single-use plastic products listed in Part B of the Annex and of products made from oxo-degradable plastic.”
Additives have Negative Effect on the Environment
The letter mentions that there is scientific evidence, including research commissioned by DEFRA and the EU that demonstrated beyond doubt that the claims that these additives transform polyolefin plastics into biodegradable plastics are unfounded.
The "oxo-additives" are designed to accelerate the natural oxidation of polyolefins, causing an early fragmentation and the fragmentation of plastic products into microplastics. Thus, the effect of these additives (if any) is merely to accelerate the conversion of macroplastics into microplastics, not solving the global problem of plastic pollution but worsening it.
The associations opine that it is important to implement the ban now as the UK is in the process of revising legislation on the use of plastic packaging.
Source: BBIA