Bio-Degradable Plastic?

I've talked about why we don't use glass in our personal care products but the next question is why don't we use bio-degradable plastics? As for glass, the issue is not quite so straight forward.

The bio-degradable packaging industry is still very much in its infancy. Issues abound such as the compatibility with the ingredients of the personal care products which they would contain. Also at hand are the issues required to actually manufacture a bio-degradable bottle and more importantly dispose of it.

My feeling is that the current methods for producing and disposing of a bio-degradable bottles outweigh any benefits gained. The story may be different if we were able to use starch-based plastics but at the moment this is not an option due to compatibility issues.

This leaves us with oil based bio-degradable plastics which are actually more harmful to the environment. In order for something to bio-degrade it needs the right environment (sun, oxygen, moisture etc). Things which are not always available in a waste environment and would prevent the plastic from degrading. But even if it were to degrade it still takes a significant time, years in fact, and we are still faced with the by-products of the process which includes Carbon Dioxide - a key contributer to global warming - and not to mention the other toxins which are leached into the ground during the process of bio-degrading.

Another issue with bio-degradable plastics is the disposal in a city environment. Currently I am aware of no city council which is able to actually deal with these plastics properly. Throw them in the compost that is collected by the council and they will be pulled out for being plastic. Throw them in the plastics recycling and they will contaminate the recycling process and render the entire batch of bottles being recycled useless!

But all is not lost. We are now starting to see Post Consumer Regrind (PCR) or recycled plastics appearing on the market. While there are still very few bottle manufacturers actually working with PCR plastic, it currently seems the best option for getting our product to market.

So rest assured we are actively investigating PCR packaging and hope to be able to repackage our entire personal care range in it the not too distant future....