Pakistan Legislation Update

RNS Number : 9041W

Symphony Environmental Tech. PLC

01 February 2013

 



1 February  2013

SYMPHONY ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES PLC

("Symphony", the "Company" or the "Group")

PAKISTAN LEGISLATES TO MAKE ALL DISPOSABLE PLASTIC PRODUCTS OXO-BIODEGRADABLE

The Board of Symphony Environmental Technologies plc, the specialist in advanced plastic technologies including controlled life, anti-microbial, anti-counterfeiting products, and recycling technologies,  welcomes new legislation in Pakistan (the "Prohibition of Non-degradable Plastic Products (Manufacture, Sale and Usage) Regulations, 2013") which prohibits the import, manufacturing, stockpiling, trade, supply, distribution, sale and use all disposable plastic products made wholly or substantially of polyethylene or polypropylene or polystyrene - unless they are oxo-biodegradable. The Regulations were announced today by the Federal Minister for Climate Change, and compliance is required in the federal territory as from April 2013.  The Ministry will coordinate the introduction of oxo-biodegradable technology with the Provincial Governments

In his Press Briefing the Minister recalled that the National Assembly had passed a Resolution in 2008 that the Government should take steps to ban conventional plastic shopping bags and bring into use degradable shopping bags. The Government had devised a two-prong strategy to deal with the issue namely:

i.      Launch a campaign "Say No to Plastic Bag" aiming at reducing usage of plastic bags and discouraging the habit of using an excessive quantity of plastic bags.

ii.     Introduce technology making plastic degradable so that the waste plastic bags vanish if left un-collected.

The Minister added that the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency ("PAK_EPA") had considered different options to deal with the plastic bag issue, which included a complete ban on plastic bags; or the introduction of photo-degradable plastic bags; hydro-soluble plastic bags; or oxo-biodegradable plastic bags.They recommended that oxo-biodegradable technology should be used. The Minister continued that the Ministry of Environment had held meetings with the Plastic Bag Manufacturers Association and with users and exporters and that a consensus had been reached on oxo-biodegradable technology. 

The Minister added that "Plastic bags made with this technology if left in open air or water absorb oxygen, which gradually weakens the internal bonds of the plastic material thereby allowing biological degradation to take place. Finally the bag will vanish leaving behind humus (a non-toxic product)."

The Minister said in his Press Briefing that a Report by PAK-EPA showed that in 2004 about 55 billion plastic bags were being manufactured and consumed annually in the country and that if current trends continued consumption would reach 112 billion by 2015. The Report said that more than 8,000 plastic bag factories were operating in the country.  The Minister noted that "oxo-biodegradable technology is simple and needs neither alteration in machinery nor in the manufacturing process. A small quantity of olefin-based additive is mixed with the raw material (granules) to develop biodegradable properties in plastic."

The Minister concluded his briefing by saying "With a view to promoting this technology in the country, PAK-EPA approached local and multinational companies and users to promote oxo-biodegradable plastic bags in the country, and the Lahore and Karachi Chamber of Commerce held workshops on biodegradable plastics to create awareness among entrepreneurs. Because of these efforts, a number of users like; Dawn Bread, KFC, McDonalds, Hyper Star, Sazgar, DHA, ICI Polyester, MENUE etc. have started using oxo-biodegradable plastic bags as part of their social responsibility."

A full copy of the Press briefing is available at

http://www.environment.gov.pk/NEWS.HTM#Plastic Bags

Michael Laurier, CEO of Symphony, said: "This legislation is an important step forward for Pakistan in protecting its cities, lands, waterways and coasts from the blight of plastic pollution, because it is not possible to collect or control all of the plastic, which would otherwise lie or float around in the environment for decades. The Government of Pakistan has not banned plastic altogether, as it is a low-cost material essential for everyday living, and for protecting food from damage and contamination. 

Although this legislation is important for Pakistan, it has much wider implications.  The legislation prohibits not only the manufacture of conventional disposable plastic products in Pakistan, but also prevents them being imported into Pakistan.  This means that all companies anywhere in the world exporting to Pakistan disposable plastic products made from or packaged in conventional or bio-based PE, or PP, or in PS must make and/or package them in future with oxo-biodegradable technology from a supplier registered with the Pakistan Government.  We are bringing this to the urgent attention of our Distributors serving more than 90 countries around the world.

We are anticipating substantially increased demand for d2w following the new legislation, and we are confident that our exclusive Distributors, Business Dynamics Ltd., will provide the necessary support services to the industry in Pakistan.  A free testing service will be offered in Symphony's laboratories, and also in Pakistan using Symphony's unique d2detector. This is a sophisticated portable device which can tell within 60 seconds whether a plastic product is oxo-biodegradable and which additives it contains (see http://degradable.net/play-videos/20).  One d2detector unit has been shipped to Pakistan, and orders for d2w have been received.

With manufacturing facilities for d2w in five countries, Symphony is well placed to supply, service and support this very significant market."

For further information, please contact:

Symphony

Michael Laurier, CEO                                                                                                         Tel: [phone]

Ian Bristow, FD

Seymour Pierce

Stewart Dickson / Julian Erleigh (Corporate Finance)                                                 Tel: [phone]

Katie Ratner / Jacqui Briscoe (Corporate Broking)

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Symphony Environmental Technologies plc

Symphony's oxo-biodegradable technology turns plastic at the end of its service-life into a material with a completely different molecular structure.  It is then no longer a plastic and can be bioassimilated in the open environment in the same way as a leaf.  The technology is branded d2w® and appears as a droplet logo on many thousands of tonnes of plastic packaging and other plastic products around the world. For a video of d2w® plastic degrading see http://degradable.net/play-videos/4. 

Symphony also supplies d2p® anti-bacterial and anti-fungal technology that can be used in most types of plastic products to help reduce the risk of contamination by harmful organisms.  (see http://degradable.net/play-videos/19)

In addition Symphony has developed the d2Detector®, a portable device which analyses plastics and detects counterfeit products.  Symphony's d2t tagging and tracer technology is also available for further security. 

Symphony has a diverse and growing customer-base and has established itself successfully as an international business with 74 distributors around the world. Products made with Symphony's plastic technologies can now be found in 96 countries and in many different product applications. Symphony is accredited to ISO9001 and ISO14001.

Symphony is a member of The British Plastics Federation (BPF), the Oxo-biodegradable Plastics Association (www.biodeg.org) (OPA), the Society for the Chemical Industry (UK), and the Pacific Basin Environmental Council. Symphony actively participates in the Committee work of the British Standards Institute (BSI), the American Standards Organisation (ASTM), the European Standards Organisation (CEN), and the International Standards Organisation (ISO).

Symphony is also developing innovative and cost-effective recycling systems to convert scrap tyres and other waste-streams into valuable products, and has recently announced its "SymTyre S300." (http://symphonyrecycling.net/technology/symtyres300/)  This is a compact machine which can flat-pack a scrap tyre in under a minute, making huge savings in the space needed to store and transport scrap tyres, with resulting savings of cost, road-space, and harmful emissions, and reducing the unsightly and uneconomic use of thousands of acres of land for tyre-dumps. The machine also prevents scrap tyres being used on the road again, and protects against disease spread by mosquitoes breeding in rainwater which collects in tyres.

Further information on the Symphony Group can be found at www.d2w.net.

 

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