The degradable bags will reach all 13 million Tesco customers by the end of May 2004 following a three month trial in the South East.
The bags are made with Canadian technology and become brittle and begin to break down after two months, after 12-18 months the bags completely degrade.
Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco group corporate affairs director, said: “This is great news for customers who tell us that they want to do more for the environment but need our help to do so. It is also a huge boost for the environment and will help to keep our streets tidy. Unlike many other 'green' carrier bags, the new Tesco bag will break down quickly even if inadvertently discarded outdoors – although we would never encourage people to dispose of them this way.”
Additive
The key to the new bags' degradability is an additive called Totally Degradable Plastic Additives (TDPA), developed by EPI Environmental Products, a Canadian oxo-biodegradable technology firm. The company claims that after 60 days the bags begin to break down into biomass, carbon dioxide, water and mineral matter.
EPI’s chief executive Mr. Joseph Gho said: “We are delighted that Tesco shows such commitment to environmental responsibility. EPI looks forward to a continuing co-operation with Tesco with potential to extend the use of degradable packaging into other areas.”
Recycling
A Tesco spokeswoman told letsrecycle.com customers would be able to re-use the degradable bags until they become brittle and begin to break down. She added that the degradable bags are still completely recyclable and will still be accepted Tesco introduced plastic bag recycling banks for export to the Far East to be recycled into film.
Ian Jillings, European account executive for EPI, also confirmed that the degradable bags can be recycled, as long as they enter the recycling process before they start to degrade. He admitted, however, that the presence of degradable bags could affect the quality of products made from recycled carrier bags if they are make up a significant proportion and have started to become brittle.
“It's like a drop of ink in a swimming pool versus a bucket of ink in a bath,” he explained, “The stance we take on this is that once a bag has started to degrade it should certainly go to landfill.”
He added that Tesco needs to educate its customers as to how to dispose of the new bags so degradable bags that have begun to break down are sent to landfill and do not contaminate recycled products.
Motivation
Tesco's decision to use the degradable carrier bags came just weeks after rival supermarket chain Sainsbury's discontinued its trial biodegradable carrier bag scheme in November 2003 (see letsrecycle.com story). In Sainsbury's scheme the bags were made of tapioca, making them four or five times more expensive than the normal plastic alternative.
Due to commercial sensitivity, the spokeswoman for Tesco could not comment on the comparative costs of the plastic degradable bags but insisted: “Tesco's motivation here is every little helps, this measure will go some way to protecting the environment something our customers are happy about doing when they do their weekly shop.”
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