Technology
One often hears that plastic is not biodegradable. This is not, in fact, true. Many common soil micro organisms can biodegrade plastic through the excretion of digestive enzymes and acids. Since plastics are not these organisms preferred food source, they usually don't biodegrade plastic at any great rate. Our 100% organic additive makes Génération [e] bags very attractive to these micro-organisms who will eat them at a rapid rate.
The output from the biodegradation of our products is similar to that of wood and food: water, biogas, and humus. Our products have also been proven non-toxic to the environment using standard tests, and the constituents of our products are on the FDA's GRAS (generally recognized as safe) list. Unlike 'compostable' products such as PLA or 'corn plastic,' and unlike 'oxo-biodegradable' products, our products do not biodegrade in warehouses or during shipment. Just as wooden furniture will last hundreds of years in a house, but rot quickly if buried in the ground, our products have the same shelf life as conventional plastics, but biodegrade in one to seven years when buried in a land fill.
The American standards for testing for this biodegrading process are ASTM 5511D for airless zones, and ASTM D5338, for soil zones where air is present. Our products meet both of these standards. No other biodegradable plastic technology is claimed by its makers to cause biodegradation of plastic in the airless zone of landfills per ASTM 5511D.
