A growing consumer interest in green products – not to mention government’s around the world legislating for change – has seen an increase in demand for biodegradable plastic bags.
One of the pioneers in ‘bioplastics’ is Australia-based Cardia Bioplastics.
Executive chairman Pat Volpe told Trader Plus the company was founded in 2002 and has developed a portfolio of 29 patents across nine patent groups.
“Conventional plastic bags are made from oil, which is a finite resource,” he said.
“The problem with plastics is also that they take hundreds of years, if not longer, to decompose in the ground. They are a menace to the environment and waterways and they are just not a good product.
“We’re involved in bioplastics – they’re plastics that involve less oil and have an environmentally friendly benefit.”
Annually the packaging market is worth $180 billion per year.
“Essentially [our] plastic is made using renewable resources, mainly in the form of starch,” Volpe said.
“We blend starch with conventional plastic resins to come up with a plastic that has environmental benefit in that it will decompose within six months and contains less oil.
“Our products meet international standards in terms of whether our plastics biodegrade or compost.”
There are other benefits to the new plastic technology as well, including the lack of methane produced when the bags are in landfill and the ability to collect food and waste in the bags to be developed into compost without going into landfill.
And with Cardia Bioplastics already in talks with several large international brand owners and packaging companies, several key names have already come on board.
“We’ve announced we have done a deal with Nestle as their preferred collaborator getting them to switch from conventional packaging to bio-packaging,” Volpe said.
“We have [also] announced deals with McDonalds in Japan, 7-Eleven in China, KFC and Brisbane City Council in Australia.
“We’re ready for what we see will be a wave [of demand] for bioplastics driven by government and consumers and brand owners who want to move away from conventional plastics that use oil to plastics with renewable and sustainable content.”
ASX code: CNN