How Plastics Biodegrade

Normally, standard plastic polymers do not degrade at all in the natural environment. With some plastics, industrial composting or other mechanical processes can break down the polymer, but only after using considerable energy requiring single source recycling.

Plastic is of little value to the microbes and bacteria found in most ecological systems. Bacteria might begin to digest a plastic product at the very end of a long polymer chain, though usually this is not the most desirable choice for a microbe. When placed into a waste stream, the majority of plastic products made today remain there permanently.


Biodegradable Sheet Stocks and Extruded Bio-Polymers

Bio-Active technology is fully blended during manufacturing and evenly dispersed within an extruded polymer. The bio-additive creates a friendly ambience for bacteria to collect and colonize on plastic. Enzymatic-assisted cleaving of long-chain polymers midway through the chain encourages total microbial consumption of the polymer. In any type of active microbial environment, biodegradation happens exponentially faster with Bio-Active plastics than in similar non-treated common polymers. See the chemistry behind this process. Take a look at our independent test results!