21 Sep 2007
Argument more heated for a "biodegradable" Christmas
 With the campaign well underway for a plastic bag-free Christmas in the UK following the well-publicised campaign by the We Are What We Do group, activists are stepping up their push for the type of material which would be "acceptable" to green-conscious stores.
Groups like Friends of the Earth UK are pushing companies to not only adopt policies outlawing non-biodegradable plastic bags but also make a positive move to adopt degradable polythene.
The material called Biothene uses metal ions with a catalyst to break down the degradable polythene bag, while supposedly environment-friendly corn or other crop-derived starch or wood-based materials would still have a long-term negative environmental effect, according to green groups.
They say over-planting of cereal crops and further felling of trees to service bio-degradable fabrics are unsustainable to the environment, while biothene replaces the polythene industry with a better model.
Hong Kong packaging, suppliers and logistics companies would be able to provide a useful advantage to UK clients by providing them with the most acceptable material in the marketplace, endorsed by green groups.
According to environmental assessment group Franklin and Associates, an energy analysis pitting the plastic against the paper bag came out in the plastic bag's favour - meaning plastic or its derivatives is a more efficient user of energy than paper. The latter uses high amounts of wood, petroleum and coal, with a single paper bag using the energy equivalent of 1,680 kilojoules of energy units; two plastic bags would use 1,470 units.
In the UK, the campaign "Plastic Ain't My Bag" has set up a tracker monitoring system to show how many bags shops are saving in a competition with other retailers. The winner will be the retailer which saves the greatest number of bags in a month.
If a winner or even runner up can show the lower number of energy units provided in their biothene bag, the attendant publicity would be positive while the cost of replacing the material with non-biodegradable plastic would be relatively small.
Companies such as Virgin Megastores and Dermalogica are among the registered retailers, sporting materials to show they are environmentally-aware.
from Eva Poon, London Office and
Martin Evan-Jones, Hong Kong Head Office
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