What competitive products to ENSO Bottles are currently on the market?
How do ENSO Bottles compare with OXO Bioegradable and PLA Plastic?
What is an oxo biodegradable and how does it work?
If an oxo biodegradable breaks down from oxygen how does this affect the shelf life?
Isn’t Cobalt considered a heavy metal?
What is PLA Plastic (Poly-Lactic Acid) and how does it work?
What are PHB and PHA bioplastics?
| What competitive products to ENSO Bottles are currently on the market? |
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Today there are essentially two other competitive bottle products on the market: oxo biodegradable and starch based PLA plastic (Poly-lactic Acid) products.
Oxo biodegradable is an additive based technology which causes the bottle to fragment and degrade from light, heat, moisture and mechanical stress and can only be used in: Polypropylene, Polyethylene, Polystyrene and Polyethylene Terephthalate.
PLA plastic is a starched based replacement to traditional plastics and replaces; Polypropylene, Polyethylene, and Polyethylene Terephthalate.
How do ENSO Bottles compare with OXO Biodegradable and PLA Plastic? |
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ENSO Bottles are the first truly biodegradable and recyclable PET bottles on the market today. The technology behind our bottles is EcoPure G2 which when introduced into a microbial environment enhances microbial activity.
EcoPure G2 add nutrients and other organic compounds which weaken the polymer chain and allow microbial action to colonize in and around the plastic and completely metabolize the bottles, turning them into inert humus (biomass), biogas (anaerobic) or Co2 (aerobic).
The development of ENSO bottles marks a turning point from traditional PET bottles and provides a turn-key stable solution over starch-based, PLA plastic and oxo biodegradable products currently on the market.
Read more - ENSO Bottles vs Oxo biodegradable vs PLA Plastic.pdf
What is an oxo biodegradable and how does it work? |
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An Oxo biodegradable technology puts cobalt (33 ppm), magnesium, and nickel into the polymer.
Through the ambient environment, the metal ions used in oxo biodegradable additives are susceptible to light, heat, moisture and mechanical stress which weakens the tensile strength of the polymer chain causing the reduction of the polymer chain. The end result of an oxo biodegradable is that it can degrade into smaller and smaller pieces, eventually breaking down small enough to create the possibility that microbes could eat the carbon chains of the polymer.
If an oxo biodegradable breaks down from oxygen how does this affect the shelf life? |
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The earlier generations of oxo biodegradable products had extremely short shelf-life due to the oxo biodegradable additive beginning to react to the oxygen immediately after manufacturing. This significantly reduced the shelf-life of any product utilizing oxo biodegradable packaging. To improve on this limitation oxo biodegradable manufactures have begun to add in oxygen scavengers and ultra-violet light inhibitors. These chemicals which will now extend the shelf life by preventing the oxygen and UV light from being able to degrade the additive compounds. Using this technique the product can be specifically engineered to have a specific shelf-life. Once the oxygen scavenger and/or UV inhibitor has reached its useful life the product will be degrading. There is some debate as to the potential impact of adding in these additional chemicals to extend the life of oxo biodegradable products.
Isn’t Cobalt considered a heavy metal? |
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That really depends on where you are located in the world. In Canada Cobalt is regarded as a regulated material. In many countries around the world Cobalt is listed as either a heavy metal, a light metal or metal ion depending on which country you are in.
What is PLA Plastic (Poly-Lactic Acid) and how does it work? |
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Polylactic acid (PLA Plastic) is a polymer derived from starch based plants such as corn and potatoes. The corn kernels are milled and dextrose is extracted which is then allowed to ferment, producing lactic acid as a by-product. The base of PLA plastic is formed by linking polymers of lactic to create pellets similar to those that are created from petroleum refining.
PLA plastic is presumed to be biodegradable although the role of hydrolysis vs. enzymatic depolymerization in this process remains open to debate. Composting conditions are found only in industrial composting facilities where high temperature (above 140F), high relative humidity (RH), and 2/3 mixture of organic food based materials can be controlled in order to supply the correct amount of nutrients to promote chain hydrolysis. This is required to break down the polymer structure before microbial activity can break down the remaining material.
What are PHB and PHA bioplastics? |
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Polyhydroxyalkanoates or PHAs are linear polyesters produced in nature by bacterial fermentation of sugar or lipids. They are produced by the bacteria to store carbon and energy. More than 150 different monomers can be combined within this family to give materials with extremely different properties. These plastics are biodegradeable and are used in the production of bioplastics.
They can be either thermoplastic or elastomeric materials, with melting points ranging from 40 to 180 °C.
The mechanical and biocompatibility of PHA can also be changed by blending, modifying the surface or combining PHA with other polymers, enzymes and inorganic materials, making it possible for a wider range of applications.
Read more - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhydroxyalkanoates
| How do I contact ENSO Bottles, LLC for additional Information? |
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ENSO Bottles, LLC
Phone: 1 (866)-936-3676 or 602-639-4228
Company Brochure
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