Determination of biodegradation rate of commercial oxo-biodegradable polyethylene film products using ASTM D 5988

Abstract

Plastic article with pro-oxidant additives have been commercially used within the past decade and promoted to be an environmentally sound option to mitigate plastic solid waste (PSW) accumulation. These products also present a dispute as to the manner they should be standardised by various international bodies. One of which, is the biotic influence on such products where their degree of degradation is studied. In this work, the standard test method of ASTM D 5988 ‘Standard Test Method for Determining Aerobic Biodegradation of Plastic Materials in Soil’ has been applied on three commercial grade oxo-biodegradable polyethylene (PE) film products. The performance of the tested specimens was measured against local soil secured from an arid site within the State of Kuwait mimicking local landfill conditions. The carbon dioxide generation was estimated and the rate of biodegradability was estimated as per the suggested methodology in the test protocol. It was noted that the carbon content was independent of the rate of carbon evolution and was attributed to the pro-degradant and heavy metal content present in the plastic product. The work in this communication can pave the way for the future consideration for this test procedure to be part of the standards in the developing world to mitigate their solid waste (SW) accumulation problem.