R&P POLYPLASTIC: Biodegradable and compostable compounds may become growth driver for the market of disposable cutlery and agricultural implements in Russia

Specialists of R&P POLYPLASTIC presented innovative materials, which may give impetus to development of industry of plastics procession in Russia at the Conference “Plastic. Circular economy and recycling” taking place on June 15 within the ROSPLAST 2021 Exhibition organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

R&P POLYPLASTIC presented a report on “Polymer materials: BioBased, Biodegradable & Compostable materials for single-use products”. It emphasized current problems in the area of implementation of biodegradable polymers for the production of disposable cutlery and agricultural implements.   

“Today the whole world is working on creating such plastics, which would completely decompose within 1-2 years after their disposal, – says Ekaterina Smirnova, Deputy Head of R&D of R&P POLYPLASTIC, one of the leading Russian compounders. – We are making our contribution to the common cause by creating the Armlen TPK material range. This compound shall be in full conformity to ISO 17088 and 18606 leaving a minimum carbon footprint after decomposition”.

Biodegradable plastic is one of the industry drivers allowing producers of disposable cutlery to develop. Currently this market is annually growing by 1,7%, however potential threats leading to reduction of this market can already be noticed: the world is facing governmental bans in various countries. Those companies, which will not be able to cross over to using biodegradable plastics with organic additives most probably, will have to leave the market.

According to estimations around 77 thousand tons of disposable cutlery and packaging is produced in Russia annually. The key problem is that small items like forks, spoons, knives and straws are very hard to recover during the process of waste sorting. However, even in the most ideal case only 70% of polymer items can be recovered for recycling while the remaining 30% will be dissipated in the environment or brought to the landfill site. A real instrument to reduce the amount of plastic scrap while waste sorting is not yet developed is to use biodegradable materials for production of disposable cutlery and packaging.    

“The use of “green” plastics today is increasing around the world: between 2013 and 2018 production of biodegradable plastics has been annually increasing by 20.5% and by the end of this period amounted to 2,9 million tons. This is 2.5 times higher than in 2013. Now, we can surely say that this is not a one-time situation but an increasing trend, – noted Ekaterina Smirnova from R&P POLYPLASTIC. – Manufacturers can use bioplastics for production of not only cutlery but also agricultural implements such as tying clips, holders and other small items. The amount of items from “green” polymers will be increasing year by year”.

Specialists of R&P POLYPLASTIC are confident that a shift to biodegradable compounds for production of single-use items is within reach in 5 – 10 years. For successful implementation of this project, several components are required: extensive infrastructure for waste sorting, industrial decomposing and what is most important – availability of Russian bioplastics.