The Oxo-biodegradable Plastics Association (OPA, London / UK; www.biodeg.org) has refuted claims made in a study published by the European Plastic Converters trade group (EuPC, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsconverters.eu) that oxo-biodegradable plastic will contaminate plastic waste streams during recycling.

Roediger Agencies (Stellenbosch / South Africa; www.roedigeragencies.co.za), which was requested by the OPA to analyse the EuPC study, concluded there is no reason to change its view, after extensive tests in 2012, that plastic products made with oxo-biodegradable technology can be recycled together with conventional oil-based polymers without the need for separation and without any “significant detriment” to the newly-formed recycled product.

The EuPC study was conducted by Austrian plastics R&D centre Transfercenter für Kunststofftechnik (TCKT, Wels; www.tckt.at) and published in November 2013.

In its analysis, Roediger Agencies, owned by Andy Roediger, agreed with TCKT that bio-based compostable plastics cannot be safely recycled together with oil-based plastics in a post-consumer waste stream.

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The Roediger Agencies review as PDF.