BIOWRAP PROVIDES THE GREENER OPTION TO SHRINKWRAP LANDFILL
Some 25 thousand tonnes of building and construction plastic is going straight into landfills every year – and that is just from Auckland.
The knowledge that the equivalent of 3.8 billion single-use shopping bags is entering landfills has sparked much public anger, especially considering the city’s landscape is littered with a constant visual reminder of the much-needed shrinkwrap.
Enter a solution: Biowrap.
“Biowrap is the new and improved version of shrinkwrap,” says Biowrap’s director Matt Emerson. He says that protecting buildings from weather elements during building and construction is critical, but in today’s world that places much emphasis on the environment and the future of the planet “green solutions” are essential.“Our green shrinkwrap Biowrap is a recyclable, environmentally friendly solution for the shrink wrap industry in New Zealand,” says Emerson.Biowrap is a recyclable and landfill-biodegradable plastic alternative wrap that comes available in 12 metres x 30 metre rolls (220-230mic) and is a PE shrinkable film with a light green exterior and white interior.
“We aim to help reduce the waste we leave behind for future generations. With 20 years of first-hand experience in the building industry, we have had great insight into the difficulties of sustainable waste management in construction, particularly on-site. The disposal of plastic waste into general skips, which ultimately ends up in landfills was a problem we wanted to see if we could contribute to finding a solution to,” says Emerson.“We decided to introduce a plastic-wrap product to the New Zealand market that boasts all the same benefits of traditional plastic; but is also recyclable and landfill biodegradable – should it ultimately end up in landfill.
”Biowrap was created to be a plastic product that can be used within industries such as construction, agriculture and packaging, that if in the event it was disposed of into the landfill would have the capability of breaking down through microbial activity – compared to traditional plastic which has an indefinite lifespan.
“In a world that is becoming increasingly damaged by the over-production of and careless disposal of plastic products, we hope that our journey with Biowrap and introduction of our recyclable and landfill biodegradable plastics to the New Zealand market will contribute to part of the solution for plastic waste moving forward.
”The product’s organic additive means that decomposition occurs much faster than traditional plastic alternatives and – importantly – biodegradation only begins when the plastic is exposed to a microbe-rich environment such as those found in landfills.
“The additive attracts microbes to the plastic and they start to digest it. As they do this, the enzymes the microbes secrete cause the plastic polymer molecules to break down into shorter chains, which the microbes can then begin to digest them too producing a humus-like material (organic matter that cannot break down any further) which is a natural plant fertiliser.
“Tried and tested, Biowrap is the affordable and practical solution to a real-world environmental problem.”