Study hopes to yield degradability specs

By Jake Thomas, Resource Recycling

The Plastics Environmental Council has announced that it is sponsoring a study to produce specifications for petroleum and gas-derived plastics that have been treated with additives to enhance their biodegradation.

The council hopes that by developing the specification, it will build confidence in the effectiveness of such additives with regulators, consumers and businesses as they are used to reduce the volume of plastic waste in landfills. The PEC has partnered with Georgia Tech and North Carolina State University to conduct a large-scale research and development program that will be headed by Professor Morton Barlaz of North Carolina State.

Barlaz, along with his team, will develop the specification by studying the waste degradation rates under both laboratory and field conditions of petroleum and natural-gas derived plastics that have been treated with PEC member companies' additives. The PEC expects the specification to be finished in about 18 months.

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