With the worldwide promotion of plastic restriction and even plastic ban, packaging manufacturers all over the world are trying to find a biodegradable plastic shopping bag substitute, among which non-woven shopping bag is the most widely used. However, can these nonwoven bags really be biodegradable?
Compared with the traditional fabric, whether woven fabric or knitted fabric or other knitting methods, all need to go through the process of fiber spinning and weaving. Nonwovens differ in that they do not require spinning and weaving processes.
The main process of non-woven fabric is the consolidation post-treatment of fiber mesh. According to the consolidation method, there are mainly spunbonded, Spunlaced, impregnated, needle punched, hot rolled, etc. at present, the raw materials of non-woven fabric industry are: 63% polypropylene, 23% polyester, 8% viscose, 2% acrylic, 1.5% polyamide and other fibers. In fact, not only shopping bags, wipes, food packaging, disposable surgical cloth, disposable masks, disposable tablecloths are made of non-woven fabrics, non-woven fabrics are also widely used in the field of industry and agriculture.
The type of raw fiber mainly determines whether the fabric can be degraded. There is no doubt that if the fiber is natural, it can. But at present, the vast majority of non-woven shopping bags on the market are made of polypropylene fiber, which is actually extracted from petroleum and is also a kind of plastic, just like polyethylene. Although the physical properties of polypropylene are relatively fragile and easier to decompose, after decomposition, the powder will remain in the soil for a long time, causing pollution to the soil and groundwater for hundreds of years.
On whether non-woven fabrics are environmentally friendly, there is a saying on the Internet: “non woven fabrics are a new generation of environmental protection materials, which are moisture-proof, breathable, flexible, lightweight, non-combustion supporting, easy to decompose, non-toxic and non-stimulating, rich in color, low-cost, recyclable, etc. This kind of material can decompose naturally after 90 days outdoor, and the service life of indoor can reach 5 years. When burning, it is non-toxic, tasteless, no residual substances, and does not pollute the environment. Protecting the earth is an internationally recognized environmental protection product
From our understanding of plastic materials, it is not difficult to see the absurdity of this statement: like polymer materials, plastic bags take decades to degrade in nature. Can nonwoven fabrics decompose naturally in 90 days? Obviously not.
So, is it completely meaningless to replace one plastic with another? It’s not true. The main advantage of
pp woven bag is that it can be reused. According to the survey data of China Chain Store Association, three years after the implementation of the “plastic restriction order”, the utilization rate of plastic bags in China’s supermarket retail industry has decreased by 66.0% on average, and nearly 40 billion plastic bags have been reduced in total. Although the utilization rate of non-woven shopping bags has also increased significantly, the overall plastic use scale has decreased significantly, which is due to the reusability of non-woven shopping bags.
On the other hand, countries are also trying to increase the recycling rate of non-woven products to reduce its impact on the environment. As for recycling, it involves some more complex and specific aspects, which determines whether a certain non-woven fabric can be effectively recycled and reused.
1 – Applications: non-woven fabrics used in sanitary products, such as wipes, diapers, medical non-woven products, which are contaminated or have potential harmful substances, cannot be recycled.
2 – Category: we can recycle recycled non-woven products. It seems that only shopping bags and service primary products can be included in the recycling target. Other categories of non-woven fabrics involved are complex and difficult to distinguish.
3, Composite materials: in the subsequent processing of non-woven fabrics, after printing, compounding or other procedures, they are mixed with other materials such as PE, pet, which set obstacles for recycling and reuse.
At present,
pp woven fabric manufacturer is also studying the addition of functional additives in polypropylene materials to improve the degradation performance of pp woven bags. However, throughout the global market, there are no non-woven products to ensure rapid and effective economic degradation.
The environmental protection of human society still has a long way to go, but we have been working together.
