Stating that the European Plastics Converters Association (EuPC, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsconverters.eu) has an apparent "hidden agenda" when it recently announced the call to ban oxo-biodegradable plastics – see Plasteurope.com of 13.09.2013 – Michael F. Stephens, technical director at Symphony Environmental Technologies (www.symphonyenvironmental.com) and technical adviser to UK-based Oxobiodegradable Plastics Association (OPA, London; www.biodeg.org), has offered a rebuttal. Symphony is a member of the OPA.

Stephens states the ban is "unfounded and unreasonable" arguing there is no credible scientific evidence to support the EuPC position on oxo-biodegradable plastic. He adds it is "ridiculous" to suggest the inclusion of 2% oxo-biodegradable plastic (0.02% oxo-biodegradable masterbatch) could produce a visible effect on the recyclate. There is no visible difference between a conventional plastic and an oxo-biodegradable plastic, he explains.

In the written response he provided to Plasteurope.com, Stephens also states there is an "abundance of independent evidence" which shows that oxo-biodegradable plastics can be "successfully recycled" in a conventional plastic waste stream, citing work done by Dr. Andy Roediger. He adds further proof is provided in a position paper on recycling, which can be downloaded at the OPA website.

"Not only do the scientific reports demonstrate the EuPC leadership has it wrong, but all the oxo-biodegradable carrier bags collected by Coop and Tesco in the UK were seamlessly incorporated into the conventional plastic waste stream," writes Stephens adding, "We would be pleased to conduct trials with recyclers to confirm that they can safely include plastic materials containing oxo-biodegradable technology into their existing plastic waste stream."

However, the Symphony technical director notes, the EuPC leadership does not seem interested in having a dialogue with the oxo-biodegradable industry – reinforcing its view that the EuPC has a hidden agenda. "It is difficult to see how this can benefit their members as oxo-biodegradability offers them a defence against allegations that their plastic products could lie or float around in the environment for many decades if not collected," Stephens points out.

In addition, according to Stephens, another indication of an EuPC hidden agenda is that it insists on describing oxo-biodegradable plastic as “oxo-fragmentable”. He writes: "They know very well that it does not just fragment, but converts at the end of its useful life in the presence of oxygen into a biodegradable material which is no longer a plastic".

Further countering the EuPC, Stephens mentions that biodegradation of abiotically-degraded polymer material has been studied in detail by many scientists and published in peer-reviewed papers, most recently at the Technical Research Institute of Sweden and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Stephens explains that the scientific papers form the basis for standards published by BSi (8472), ASTM D6954 (USA), and AFNOR Accord T51-808 (France) to measure oxo-biodegradability. In addition, 16 countries have legislated to authorise oxo-biodegradable packaging materials and eight have already made it mandatory to use oxo-biodegradable technology.

Finally Stephens argues that life cycle assessments conducted by UK-based quality solutions provider Intertek (London; www.intertek.com), and published on the OPA website show that oxo-biodegradable plastic bags have better environmental credentials than conventional plastic, bio-based “compostable” plastic, or paper.