Plastics held at UAE ports

RNS Number : 5150X

Symphony Environmental Tech. PLC

16 February 2012

 



	16 February 2012

SYMPHONY ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES PLC

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

Plastics held at UAE ports - except approved oxo-biodegradable

By Decree 77/5 of the United Arab Emirates the import and manufacture of plastic bags and other plastic products not conforming to the approved specification was prohibited as from 1st January 2013.  The Government has now brought forward this prohibition to 1st January 2012.

Symphony Environmental Technologies plc, the specialist in advanced plastics technologies including controlled life and anti-microbial products, and waste-to-value systems ("Symphony" or, the "Group"), is pleased to announce that it has been audited by the UAE authorities and that its products meet the approved specification and can be imported or made in the UAE.  This is a huge opportunity for Symphony to supply an indicative market of over 500,000 tons of Polymers.

The Emirates Authority for Standardisation & Metrology (ESMA) has issued an Official Notice that plastic bags and plastic materials would be inspected at Port of Entry, and that consignments without an ECAS Registration Certificate would be impounded and appropriate action taken by the Authorities.

ECAS Registration Certificates for plastics are granted only in respect of Oxo-biodegradable plastics.  They must be made with pro-degradant additive from suppliers who have been audited by ESMA and they have to comply with UAE Standard 5009 of 2009. 

Michael Laurier, CEO of Symphony, said: "We are delighted that Symphony meets the requirements of the UAE Government, and that our products are eligible for import into and manufacture in, the UAE.  The UAE Government is supportive of Oxo-biodegradable plastic technology - recognising in legislation the need to protect the environment by ensuring that all short-life plastic products are Oxo-biodegradable. We are delighted that the UAE Government brought forward application of the ban on non approved products, and are in fact preventing non approved products from entering the country.  We are growing our presence in the UAE and the region."

The Official Notice

The Official Notice covers not just plastic bags, but all packaging and disposable articles made from plastic polymers derived from fossil-fuels. These include but are not limited to, flexible shopping bags and semi-rigid plastic packaging for food, magazines, consumer-durables, garbage bags, bin-liners for household use, shrink wrap, pallet wrap, cling film etc and other articles normally used over short periods and subsequently discarded.

-ENDS-

For further information, please contact:

Symphony

Michael Laurier, CEO                                                                                                      Tel: [phone]

Ian Bristow, FD

Seymour Pierce

Stewart Dickson / Freddy Crossley (Corporate Finance)                                Tel: [phone]

Katie Ratner / Jacqui Briscoe (Corporate Broking)

Bishopsgate Communications

Nick Rome/Shabnam Bashir                                                                                       Tel: [phone]

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Symphony Environmental Technologies plc

SYMPHONY ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES PLC is a specialist in controlled-life plastic technology and products - a system that works by a process called oxo-biodegradation. The technology is branded d2w® and appears as a droplet logo on many thousands of tonnes of plastic packaging and other plastic products.

Symphony's d2w® technology turns plastic at the end of its service-life into a material with a completely different molecular structure.  At that stage it is no longer a plastic and can be bioassimilated in the open environment in the same way as a leaf.

For a video of d2w® plastic degrading see http://degradable.net/play-videos/4

Symphony has a diverse and growing customer-base and has established itself successfully as an international business with 67 distributors around the world. Products made with d2w® plastic technology can now be found in more than 90  countries and in many different product applications.

Symphony is a member of The British Plastics Federation (BPF), the Oxo-biodegradable Plastics Association (www.biodeg.org), and the Society for the Chemical Industry (UK). Symphony is also a member of the European Organisation for Packaging & the Environment (Europen), 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 also supplies d2p anti-microbial technology that can be used in most types of plastic products to help protect against infection, and has developed d2Detector, a handheld device which analyses plastics and detects counterfeit products. 

Symphony is also developing innovative and cost-effective waste-to-value technology to convert scrap tyres and other waste-streams into valuable products.

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

 

END

 

 

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