Marchant - Polythene bag and sack manufacturer, including biodegradable and compostable bags, VCI bags and stand up pouches, UK

Degradable bags

Unlike compostable film, our degradable bags are designed for landfill where they will degrade, they:

will commence degradation in 8-12 weeks and will bio-degrade to water, carbon dioxide and biomass in negligible quantities

are likely to be cheaper than your current bags. Our degradable bags are exceptionally strong at very thin gauges. This has the additional environmental benefit of reducing the amount of material needed and better enabling degradation

use recycled polythene

are available on rolls or flatpacked, sized from 300mm to 1200mm wide and from 14 to 100 microns

are available coloured and printed for local authorities

Full technical specifications of our biodegradable bags are available on request.
Click here to download Degradable Bags PDF flyer.

The bags are not a vegetable material which the compostable bags are made from, instead they are standard polythene bags which include an additive which initiates the degradation process. After the bags useful life the degradation process begins. Heat and light act as catalysts and once the process is initiated it will continue even in a landfill, or under water.

How the bags biodegrade
Degradable polythene uses a pro-degradant additive to break-up the long chains of atoms. The degradant is triggered by heat and light. Oxygen seeps into the areas where the molecular chain has been broken and causes oxidation, which in turn leads to degradation.

As it degrades the polythene becomes brittle and quickly disintegrates into tiny flakes. These flakes become water wettable and sustain a bio-film on their surface. Micro-organisms in the bio-film, such as bacteria and fungus, generate bio-degradation, a process that converts the carbon and the hydrogen molecular chain into carbon dioxide, water and a small amount of biomass.

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