Use of biodegradable plastics is gaining ground in Costa Rica

The use of biodegradable plastics is gaining ground in Costa Rica less than three years after the introduction of this technology in the market, while consumers purchase and packaging, bags, bottles and even disposable tableware and less aggressive with the environment.

Although the proportion of biodegradable products in the supply of plastics in the country is still less than 10%, the trend is toward rapid growth, said today (06/04) to Acan-Efe Silvia Vega, general manager of the company Millennium Three , a distributor in Central d2wt technology, the additive that makes plastic biodegradable material.

According to Vega, the increase in the increasing use of "green" products that Costa Rica is experiencing in response to a worldwide trend, while Central American countries with greater acceptance of plastic called oxo, or biodegradable, are El Salvador and Guatemala .

Data provided by the company indicate that each year there are about 220 million tons of plastic in the world, with approximately 20 million tons end up in rivers and seas. In addition, it is estimated that 90% of plastic manufactured from 1930 is still somewhere on the planet without disintegrating.

According to figures from international environmental organizations, annually die near a million seabirds of plastic ingestion, while species such as turtles and jellyfish die suffocated because of the waste material at sea worldwide.

In Costa Rica, will generate about 4,500 tons of municipal solid waste each day, of which approximately 30% ends up in rivers and oceans. Most are plastic products. Vega said that in this situation is essential to inform the public about the effects of plastic in the environment, insofar as consumers demand more less harmful products, companies will be forced to adopt new technologies.

But he noted that so far in Costa Rica, companies in sectors as diverse as garbage bags, fast food, meat, dairy, water and even supermarkets, as well as schools and universities, have adopted the technology d2wt for their packaging and products end. The additional cost to produce plastic oxo between 5 and 10%, Vega said, but added that there are ways to reduce it and many companies have included in corporate social responsibility programs. "In reality, this cost is nothing compared to the benefit to the environment of waste have to be broken down rather than build up for decades in the world," he said.

It is estimated that a normal plastic bottle takes 400 years to decompose, while a plastic oxo has a decay period of approximately four years. The traditional plastic bags, for example, takes 100 years to degrade, while the biodegradable plastics need between 18 and 24 months.

D2wt technology is used in over 90 countries and has been approved and tested according to international regulations, including the Food and Drug Administration of USA (FDA). This additive is added in amounts from 1% to 3% in the manufacture of traditional plastic to give the product a shelf life. Once this life, plastic molecules break down and oxidize releasing components that are returning to nature by means of water, carbon dioxide and biomass. sm

With information Efe

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