Defra has published the results of its review into industry standards for the biodegradability of single use plastic carrier bags. The report found that there are a number of industry standards for\u00a0plastic bag biodegradability, and further work needs to be done before any of these\u00a0could be used to exempt certain types of carrier bags on grounds of biodegradability.<\/p>\n
By the end of May 2016 retailers are required to report the number of bags that have been supplied, and the uses to which the proceeds of the charge have been put, after reasonable costs are deducted. The Government will use that opportunity to consider the early impacts of the charge. It will also continue to consider the technical specification for a genuinely biodegradable bag, and will at that point further report on how an exemption for such a biodegradable bag can be implemented.<\/p>\n
When the 5p charge for single use plastic carrier bags was announced in 2013, it was also announced that the Government would work with industry to exempt \u201csuper biodegradable bags\u201d from the charge.<\/p>\n
The charge is intended to drive down the large numbers of single use plastic bags distributed which are often littered. Evidence from Wales and Northern Ireland suggests that England will see reductions of up to 80% in the major supermarkets. However, the report says that there will always be a need for some single use bags.<\/p>\n
The report states that:\u00a0“Some of these bags will be disposed of to landfill or incineration, whilst increasingly we expect a proportion to be recycled whilst inevitably others continue to be littered. There is therefore a rationale for promoting bags which are made out of a biodegradable material.”<\/p>\n
There are existing bags which degrade in certain circumstances, for example:<\/p>\n
Oxo-biodegradable bags\u00a0– Bags made as normal single use plastic bags from plastics such as polyethylene with an additive to catalyse the degradation process (typically metal salts) in the presence of oxygen.
\nPlant-based biodegradable bags – Bags made of plant based material \u2013 typically starch, which break down in composting environments.<\/p>\n
These bags have very different properties, degrade in different ways, and are likely to have different impacts when incorporated into recycled plastic reprocessing streams. The intention of the review was to ensure that any bag exempted would biodegrade in a wide range of environments, including on land (in soil) and in rivers and the sea. According to the report authors, the \u00a0review was “entirely technology neutral and does not support one particular technology over another.”<\/p>\n
Over the next three years obligated producers of plastic packaging will have to recycle 47%\/52%\/57% of the plastic packaging which they place on the market in the UK. Defra’s expectation is that to meet these targets recycling of plastic films including single use carrier bags will need to increase and WRAP has worked with the industry and with local authorities to help this happen.<\/p>\n
The report states that to ensure that world-wide confidence in UK plastic recyclates continues “it is therefore important that any plastic film certified as biodegradable could either be separated out, or would not reduce the quality of the recyclate film.” Defra is not aware that a bag that does all of those things currently exists. The review therefore focused on defining criteria\u00a0that would enable the Government to judge whether or not a bag could be classified as biodegradable.<\/p>\n
Main conclusions
\nThe overarching conclusions of the report are that “it is\u00a0not currently possible to assemble a standard specification that would ensure that plastic bags claiming to be biodegradable would biodegrade in all environments, in particular in the open environment.”<\/p>\n
The review says that “considerable investment” would be needed to establish \u00a0“the knowledge base that would correct these background evidence deficiencies to enable a discussion on a biodegradability specification to proceed.”<\/p>\n