news, articles, press releases etc.:

In March 2010 the UK Dept of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published a report, EV0422, 'Assessing the environmental impacts of oxo-degradable plastics across their life cycle' written by researchers at Loughborough University with no expertise in oxo-biodegradable (“OBD”) plastic technology. Its publication raised a number of concerns for those who specialise in the technology.

Wells Plastics Limited and Obipack Plastick Film San A.S (Exclusive distributor of ReverteTM for the Turkish marketplace) attended the extremely successful Eurasia Packaging 2011 in Istanbul to promote Reverte^TM and the use of Reverte^TM in oxo-biodegradable applications ranging from check out bags to more complex structures used in the packaging industry.

The regrettable reaction by Tesco to unwarranted greenwash pressure and the uninformed, almost hysterical reactions from sections of the media, the general public and even a government sponsored quango, demonstrate just how poorly informed Tesco’s customers are when it comes to plastic bag issues in general and oxo-biodegradable bags in particular.

The Times newspaper (29/07/11, p28) carried an article headed “Supermarkets may be banned from supplying free plastic bags”. Within this article it was stated that after a massive reduction from the 2006 figure of 11 billion bags to 6.1 billion in 2009, 2010 saw an increase to 6.8 billion.

This presentation will discuss the current accepted standards and demonstrate, through independently tested product, how polyethylene film containing Reverte^TM meets the requirements of abiotic degradation, biodegradation and ecotoxicty as defined by ASTM D6954-04.

Wells Plastics is delighted to confirm that a new British Standard BS 8472:2011 has now been published and will come into effect on 30th June 2011. BS 8472:2011 “Methods for the assessment of the oxo-biodegradation of plastics and of the phyto-toxicity of the residues in controlled laboratory conditions”.

Wells Plastics is delighted to announce recent third party results on oxo-biodegradable PET applications containing Reverte^TM . The polymer additive range developed, manufactured and marketed by Wells Plastics, has been shown independently to impart oxo-biodegradability to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) following the release of third party testing data.

ASTM D6954-04 Standard Guide for Exposing and Testing Plastics that Degrade in the Environment by a Combination of Oxidation and Biodegradation comprises three Tiers of testing; oxidation, biodegradation and ecotoxicity.