Read Our Degradable Plastic Blog News Update

BioBag Product Video Shoot

Share

 

BioBag Product = Compostable Product

BioBag and the Environment

Mater-Bi is produced by Novamont, an Italian research company dedicated to environmental alternatives to polyethylene-based plastics. Mater-Bi is the first completely biodegradable and compostable bio-polymer ever invented. The processes are protected by more than 50 patents.

Mater-Bi™ really is a dream come true. It is a material that serves Sustainable Development, it combines environmental demands with those of Agriculture and Industry. The bioplastic developed by Novamont is the real response to the demand for convenience goods that have a small environmental impact. It comes from renewable resources of agricultural origin, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and the consumption of energy and non renewable resources, and it completes a virtuous circle: the raw materials of agricultural origin return to the earth through processes of biodegradation and composting , without releasing pollutants.

(but it releases methane)
…AND CERTIFIED…
Under extremely clear and strict regulations on environmental matters (EN 13432 ) Novamont and Mater-Bi™ are exemplary models, because of the certifications obtained, the analysis and control instruments used, and the guiding role in numerous national and international initiatives, whose aim was increasingly to clarify and define the most suitable policies for safeguarding the environment.

Mater-Bi™ comes from renewable raw materials of agricultural origin and from non-genetically modified starch. Novamont manufactures and sells various lines of biopolymers for a variety of manufacturing processes, all with the Mater-Bi™ trademark. The material is available in granular form.

All of the Mater-Bi™ grades:

1. are completely biodegradable in different environments: in composting, in the soil, in fresh and in salt water;

2. can be worked using the same processes as for traditional plastics and with similar output;

3. can be printed on, using normal inks and printing techniques, without the need for crown treatment;

4. can be colored in bulk, using biodegradable Master-batches;

5. are intrinsically anti-static;

6. can be sterilized using gamma rays.

Biodegradability is characteristic of natural substances and materials of being assimilated by micro-organisms, and thus introduced into the natural cycles. In effect, it is a concept that is familiar to everyone.

When natural organic materials go into the ground, they tend to decompose progressively, to disappear. This phenomenon is very important for the environment, which has to get rid of waste to make room for new life. Trees, plants and algae, meaning photosynthetic organisms, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and, with the power of the sun, the inexhaustible source of energy, use it to synthesize sugars, and a whole range of other substances present in Nature.

The flow of substances and energy passes along the food chain from the plants to the herbivores, and from these, to carnivores. However, this mechanism would quickly become blocked if the opposite process did not exist, that is, if it was not possible to release carbon dioxide from organic material. So, in natural equilibrium, the process of biodegradation is as important as that of photosynthesis, of which it is both the outcome and the starting point. An important role is played in biodegradation by micro-organisms, which are present in every environment, and which are fed by organic waste. Thus, organic material is transformed again into carbon dioxide, thereby completing the natural cycle.