Position Papers
Fossil Resources
Oxo-biodegradable plastics are currently made from naptha, which is a by-product of oil refining, and oil is of course a finite resource. However, this by-product arises because the world needs fuels and oils for engines, and would arise whether or not the by-product were used to make plastic goods.
Unless the oil is left under the ground, carbon dioxide will inevitably be released, but until other fuels and lubricants have been developed for engines, it makes good environmental sense to use the by-product, instead of wasting it by "flare-off" at the refinery and using scarce agricultural resources to make plastics.
A Life Cycle Assessment was carried out in January 2005 by GUA – (Gesellschaft für umfassende Analysen) of Vienna which shows that:
"Plastic products are made of energy resources. Additionally, their production needs further energy resources. Nevertheless, plastic products frequently enable energy savings from the perspective of the energy balance of the total life cycle compared to the energy balance of an alternative material. Examples for such energy savings by plastic products are:
- Substitution of materials which consume much more energy for production of the same functional unit (e.g. glass)
- Performance of a certain function with much less material (e.g. packaging)
- Fuel savings because of reduction in mass (transport)
- Energy savings due to thermal insulation (where insulation with other materials would be less effective, technically complicated or too expensive)
- Savings of resources by avoiding loss or damage of packed products."
Recently, interest has been shown in manufacturing sugar derived polyethylenes. These, like fossil-derived PE, are not biodegradable, but they can be made oxo-biodegradable in the same way as the latter, by the addition of a pro-degradant additive.