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New LCA of waste bags

Bad Homburg, August 2009: The IFEU Heidelberg - Institute for Energy and Environmental Research has presented the results of a new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for waste bags. It compares bags made from polyethylene, polyethylene recyclate and bioplastics in relation to all relevant environmental tracers.

This balance was commissioned by companies manufacturing and distributing waste bags from various materials, including bioplastics. The study should shed light on whether the planned legal sanctioning of conventional plastics for use in waste bags, for example by means of penalty taxes, can be justified from an ecological point of view.

The result of the study is clear. With all environmental tracers, waste bags from recycled polyethylene have the best results, followed by those made from new polyethylene. Even in categories to do with emissions such as CO₂, polyethylene materials take the lead.

Therefore, the originally supposed ecological advantages of bioplastics materials for waste bags have not been confirmed. From the point of view of the German Association for Plastic Packagings and Films (IK), these scientific results show that sanctioning of conventional plastics in the framework of legal measures are by no means justified.

Irrespective of the results of this particular LCA, IK considers bioplastics as a relatively new material to have good potential for the future, especially in certain special applications.

A short version of the LCA can be downloaded here

With approximately 400 member companies the German Association for Plastics Packaging and Films, IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen e.V., is currently the largest association within the plastics industry in Europe.

As supporting member of the GKV e.V. the IK is engaged for the interests of the whole plastics processing industry in Germany.

Contact:  

Ulf Kelterborn
-Managing Director-
Phone:              00-49 617 292 6678        
Fax: 00-49 617 292 6680
u.kelterborn@kunststoffverpackungen.de

Inga Kelkenberg
-Public Relation Affairs-
Phone:                00-49 6172 926668        
Fax: +49 6172 926669
i.kelkenberg@kunststoffverpackungen.de