The best solution to plastic pollution.
Reduce your environmental impact on the world today.
d2w is the brand for controlled-life plastic technology which is designed to control the life of ordinary plastic products. d2w is a carefully researched and tested additive formulation which is added to ordinary plastic at the extrusion or casting stage of manufacture.
d2w oxo-biodegradable plastics has a pre-programmed life. There is little or no extra costs. During its service-life, the properties of ordinary plastics such as strength, flexibility, printability, sealability, processing temperatures and speed are not affected at all. Almost all kinds of plastics – not just carrier bags! Only 1% dosage (for most plastics) is required and d2w products can be made with the same machinery and workforce as before, with no need to change suppliers too.
At the end of its useful service life, the process of oxo-biodegradation starts and the plastic will eventually be broken down into water, carbon dioxide and biomass. The plastic will degrade and then biodegrade in the dark or sunlight, heat of cold, land or sea, leaving NO fragment, NO methane, NO harmful residues thus avoiding pollution and damage to the environment and wildlife.
Just as strong and looks the same as ordinary plastics!
In its commitment to quality standards, Symphony’s Technical Department in UK carries out assessment of each inquiry, issues specific recommendations to the manufacturers, conducts laboratory tests in accordance to international standards and issues reports to all customers.
Smart plastics used throughout a wide spectrum of industries has been tested, and proven safe for food, medical, farming and many other applications. It complies with the requirements by multiple food regulations such as The European Union 2002/72/EEC regulations for Direct Food-contact and all amendments, and the FDA American requirements for direct food-contact materials.
From all kinds of bags, films to packaging, from short-life to longer-life plastics, d2w additives can convert your ordinary plastics to smart plastics easily. The additives can be formulated to meet your specifications. For example, a toiletry container in a hotel may require a useful life of five years before beginning to lose its strength whereas a bread bag may only require a month.
Symphony participates actively in the British, European, American, and ISO (worldwide) standards organisations.
The European Union 2002/72/EEC regulations, FDA American requirements, CFIA Canadian requirements, Brazilian ANVISA requirements and UAE Standards UAE.S5009/2009 (Approved).
ASTM standard D6954, British Standard 8472 and ISO 4892/2, ISO 4892/3.
ISO 17556 Applus (Spain), PYXIS (UK), University of Pisa (Italy), RAPRA (UK) and UFSCar / UNESP (Brasil), SPI Sweden, AFNOR AC T 51-808 (France).
OECD 208 and EN13432 - tested by independent laboratories Applus and OWS (Belgium).
Absence of restricted chemicals according to REACH directive.
Oxo-biodegradable Plastic Association.
Plastics – not just carrier bags, but almost everything is wrapped or bottled in plastics. At the back of the stores, there are acres of shrink-wrap, pallet-wrap and bubble-wrap used to deliver goods in bulk.
Why?
Because plastics in most cases is the most economical and best way to protect goods from contamination, damage and wastage.
d2w makes plastic biodegrade in the same way as a leaf.
Tensile-elongation under UV>
Symphony’s d2w technology causes a process called oxo-biodegradation. This process shortens the life of the everyday plastic products so they don’t lie or float around for decades.
The technology behind d2w Smart Plastic.
d2w additive is added at the start of the manufacturing process. Polymer resins are hydrocarbons. Their molecular backbones are constructed of hydrogen atoms bonded together by carbon atoms in long entangled chains. It is these long chains that provide flexibility, strength and significantly preventing oxygen from attaching to the carbon and hydrogen atoms.
d2w contains a catalyst that will break the long chains. At the end of the service life of the product, d2w causes a break-down of the molecular chain of the polymer. The molecular weight of the polymer quickly descends from around 200,000 Daltons to 100,000 Daltons, becoming brittle and disintegrate into tiny flakes. The molecular mass descend rapidly to below 40,000 Daltons and at that stage, the material effectively becomes water wettable and micro-organisms can access the carbon and hydrogen.
When micro-organisms can access the carbon and hydrogen, this stage can be accurately be described as biodegradation. At this point, the material is no longer plastic and they are bio-assimilated the same way as natural waste such as leaves. This process continues on land or water. It is accelerated by ultra violet light, heat and the open environment. It does not need to be composted. d2w does not contain heavy metals. The process leaves plastics totally degraded leaving only harmless residues of CO2, H2O and biomass.
Where did the plastic go? It degraded into CO2, H2O and Biomass.
Every year, approximately 200 million tons of plastic is produced globally.
Every year, more than 500 billion plastic bags are produced globally.
Plastic is a fantastic material, versatile, strong, lightweight and flexible.
But it can hang around in our environment for decades after it has reached the end of its useful life.
Responsible use of plastic.
Which material can hold 2,500 times of its own weight? A plastic bag. d2w can help to reduce the burden of persistent plastic pollution in the environment.
d2w based products can be re-used many times during their service-life. There is no compromise to the strength or quality of the product.
d2w based products can be recycled and made from recycled plastic polymers. It can be recycled together with conventional oil-based polymers and hence, no need for waste separation.
Oxo-plastic offers numerous advantages over different solutions.
Hydro-biodegradable plastics are sometimes called also bio-based plastics, or compostable plastics which can comply with the composting standards such as EN13432, ASTM D6400, D6868, ISO17088 and Australian Standards 4736-06.
Read more about the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of different carrier bags.
Imagine a squashed tomato in a paper bag!
The paper bag was in effect the first “disposable” carrier bag, but was superseded in the 1970s by plastic carrier bags which were seen as the perfect alternative, as they did not tear when wet.
Paper bags are heavier and thicker. 1,000 paper bags may be 2 feet high, as compared to 1,000 plastic bags which may only be 2 inch high. This results in 7 times higher in number of trucks (giving rise to factors relating to global warming) and higher storage space.
To reduce its global warming potential to below that of an oxo-biodegradable bag or ordinary plastic bag, it has to be re-used up to 9 times. However, as paper bags tear easily, it is unlikely that it can be re-used regularly. More importantly, paper bags is far worse than ordinary plastics in terms of human toxicity and terrestrial eco-toxicity due to the effect of paper production which requires a high amount of water and electricity and pollution issues related to air, water and solid wastes. It is a MYTH that paper bag is a more “environmentally friendly” option when compared to plastic bags. A better option is smart plastics.
Read more about the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of different carrier bags.
Re-usable bags are mostly made of woven cotton textile. Cotton bags are far thicker and heavier, when compared to plastic bags. One 20 foot-container can pack 30,000 cotton bags as compared to 2.5 million plastic bags in the same space. Therefore, cotton bags will be more expensive in terms of costs, transportation and storage.
Cotton textile has high impact on all environmental categories due to cotton growing and the effect of cotton production / processing which requires a high amount of electricity and water, and pollution issues related to air, water and solid wastes. To reduce its global warming potential to below that of an oxo-biodegradable bag or ordinary plastic bag, cotton bag has to be re-used up to 393 times.
Long-term reusable bags is relatively unhygienic. Imagine carrying chilli powder or chicken meat in a cotton bag! Research by Guelph Chemical Laboratories in Canada in 2008 has shown that "re-usable grocery bags can become an active microbial habitat and a breeding-ground for bacteria, yeast, mold, and coliforms. The unacceptable presence of coliforms suggests that forms of E.Coli associated with severe disease could be present in a small but significant proportion of the bags."
The Environment and Plastics Industry Council of Canada commissioned a study on re-usable bags in 2009 which found that 64% of the bags showed bacterial contamination. Almost 30% had bacterial counts higher than those considered safe for drinking water. They noted that although in theory these bags can be cleaned, it is difficult to thoroughly dry them without encouraging microbial growth.
Recently, jute bags are also used as re-usable bags which are better in strength as compared to cotton bags yet even heavier and thicker. Some jute bags have a thin layer of plastic lining the inner part in order to protect the bag from getting soiled. Symphony encourages the plastic lining to be made anti-bacterial using d2p as protection against transmission of bacterial through contact with everyday items.
Read more about the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of different carrier bags.
Studies were commissioned by the UK Government (Environment Agency) to assess the life cycle environment Impacts of the production, use and disposal of different carrier bags for the UK. In 2008. Approximately 10 billion lightweight carrier bags were given away in UK which works out to 10 bags a week for household (DEFRA 2009).
Life Cycle Assessment 2011 (Intertek LCA 2011, 3.2mb pdf) was carried out by an independent organization, Intertek Expert Services for different type of bags. The study found some interesting evidence:
An independent Life Cycle Assessment study (Intertek LCA 2012, 1.3mb pdf) for lightweight carrier bags was carried out by Intertek Expert Services in 2012 commissioned by Symphony. The study covered conventional HDPE bag, d2w oxo-biodegradable bag and bio-based (compostable) bag.
The study found the following evidence:
Plastics can take up to 400 years to break down.
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d2w Smart Plastic is the value-added technology with many benefits. And it’s available to use.
Businesses around the world use d2w.