Comparison of Different Plastic Types

Traditional Plastics

These plastics are made from petrochemicals and they might take a 1000 years to decompose. 

Degradable Plastics

These are made from petrochemicals containing additives which enhance degradation but leaving harmful microplastics in the environment.

OXO-Degradable Plastics

Due to lack of enforcement, and the pace at which the bioplastics industry is growing, you may encounter into products misleadingly marketed as compostable or biodegradable.

In both film extrusion and injection molding applications, there are additive technologies where bio-additives (such as starch) are added to traditional plastic (such as PP, PE, PS, etc.) and falsely marketed as compostable and biodegradable.  These oxo-degradable products are often more damaging to the environment than traditional plastic!

EPI-Degradable Plastics

EPI is an additive to aid in the quicker decomposition of plastic materials. Allowing the plastic to “break down” quicker than they normally would.

D2W- Degradable Plastics

D2W is an additive, which contains a mixture of salts that is added to raw plastic in the factory. The firm says within two years, and as long as oxygen is present, a plastic bag containing d2w will turn into something with "a different molecular structure".

The Court of Milan has ruled that plastic bags and other products containing the additive ‘d2w’ cannot legally be marketed as ‘biodegradable’ in accordance with European market standards.

Because degradable plastics are only degradable – not biodegradable or certified compostable –after the bio-additives have broken down traditional plastics remain. Even if the small pieces are microscopic, the plastic still exists and can easily enter the environment.  There are absolutely no benefits from using degradable plastics!

Compostable Plastics

Compostable products are made from plants and compostable polymers.  Our fully certified Home Compostable products are designed to break down to CO2, H₂0 and biomass leaving no negative effect on the germination and the growth of plants. 

Because compostable material derives from renewable plant resoures but not the petroleum-based traditional plastics, so it can truely realize energy-saving and enviromental protection, and compostable material is considered to be the most promising new "ecological material".