Cortec (St. Paul / Minnesota / USA; www.cortecvci.com) has launched “EcoOcean”, a bioplastic that offers a combination of flexibility and strength, commercial and low-temperature backyard compostability as well as anaerobic and marine biodegradability. The material was developed at the company’s Cambridge, Minnesota / USA and Beli Manastir / Croatia extrusion plants for use in flexible packaging, especially in coastal regions.

Ideally, the material is disposed of in commercial composting, or in oxygen deprived anaerobic digesters. Cortec says the bioplastic offers advantages in almost all intentional and unintentional disposal methods. In entombed landfills, the main benefit is the film's renewable content of up to 77%. In composting, it allows rapid aerobic biodegradation naturally and safely. In anaerobic digestion systems or methane producing landfills, the films rapidly break down in as little as 15 days. For waterway litter, “EcoOcean” provides coastal areas with a way to support legislative and social goals for coastal and marine preservation, the company said.