Question about our bags
If you can't find an answer to your question here, please contact us. We are sure whatever you want to know, someone else will as well, so then we can add our answers here.
Are your bags biodegradable?
In terms of our current bag range, the OPP (Oriented polypropylene) bags.
We are keeping our eyes open to locate alternative options but for now, there really aren’t any suitable for the use our bags are put to, which is customers needing clear bags they can see their product through.
Our bags are made of polypropylene and are not bio-degradable. However they are recyclable and can go in the soft bag recycle bins.
We quite often get asked for true cellophane bags and though cellophane is made from plants and technically biodegradable, Cellophane production requires toxic carbon disulphide. Also, cellophane could end up releasing methane, a powerful global-warming gas, if lodged in a landfill that lacks a methane recovery system. With that in mind, cellophanes limited shelf life and it not being as clear, for us it is not a suitable alternative.
People searching for our bags tend to use the term cellophane. "Cellophane" is a registered trademark. The term "cellophane" has become a generalised term, and is often used informally to refer to a wide variety of plastic film products, even those not made of cellulose.
PLA another alternative, again technically biodegradable, has similar issues. It requires very stringent conditions for bio degrading to occur, not something your standard average backyard compost system would be capable of providing. Without those conditions it will sit there for decades or centuries, much like any ordinary plastic. To get the right conditions for biodegradation of PLA to occur, requires industrial composting equipment, sorely lacking in our country but also something that is a very energy intensive process.
Hopefully someone is able to invent a viable solution in the near future.
Some further reading. (Original links shown, some no longer active or redirecting)
Ministry of the environments position on compostable products.
Biodegradable bags do not break down in marine environments at all. Plus they still look like a jellyfish to a turtle, so can be just as harmful as traditional plastic bags if they are disposed of thoughtlessly.
4. Biodegradable plastics cannot be recycled in NZ.
Biodegradable plastics are designed to break down or ‘degrade’ which means they can’t be recycled in our current recycling systems in New Zealand. Never put these plastics in your recycling bin!
Our bags are RIC 5, Polypropylene. They can be reused, recycled and are food safe too.
