uk legislation
It is important to appreciate the difference between Standards and Laws in this context. Standards are, essentially, a guide to specification and compliance with a Standard is not legally enforceable. Sometimes, Laws are enacted which embody references to Standards in order to define products which do or do not meet specific criteria - clearly in those cases it does make a real difference if a product does or does not meet the Standard.
At the present time, d2w™, and any other oxo-biodegradable products, do not meet the requirements of EU Standards for degradable packaging. The significance of this and how this is likely to change are detailed below.
Standards
UK Standards are normalised with those of the EU. Domestic Standards are created by the British Standards Institute (BSi) who also administers those of the EU. The current Standard for degradable packaging is the European Standard, EN13432. A key feature of this Standard is the measurement (using the Sturm Test) of the speed of emission of CO2 in the course of degradation in compost. Although d2w™ products totally degrade, the speed at which they emit CO2 does not meet the current Standard - indeed, based on this definition even a leaf cannot be called 'degradable'.
A BSI Working Group 2004/00862, reporting to Committee PKW/00, is currently formulating a new British Standard designed to recognise the functionality of oxo-biodegradable technology. This has been under way for some months and is titled at present BSi Standard PKW/00 Doc. 2004/00862.
Legislation
There are two separate UK Laws affecting this area: 1) The Packaging Waste Regulations which sets out the requirements for dealing with packaging waste and 2) The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Act which defines the requirements that all packaging must satisfy.
The Packaging Waste Regulations were incorporated into UK law in 1997. They are based on the European Directive for Packaging Waste. Currently 65% of all packaging must be recovered. It is not practical for individual companies to organise the recovery, and recycling, of their packaging waste. So to ensure that the UK conforms to the EU Directive a series of non-profit organisations were created to administer the 'PRN' scheme. PRNs (Packaging Return Notes) are issued (sold) to companies to enable them to fulfil their individual obligations under the directive. The revenue from the PRNs is used by the organisation issuing them (e.g. Valpak) to fund recovery and recycling schemes. Thus the UK is able to demonstrate that as a whole we are complying with the Directive.
A PRN at no cost - i.e. one where the material is exempt from any charge - can only be issued to companies if the material concerned falls within the definitions of recovery or recycling. Biodegradability is not recognised in the UK legislation as a definition of recoverability but Compostability is recognised as a basis for exemption.
Unusually the UK splits the execution of the Directive into two. It created the Packaging Waste Regulations, and then followed up with the Packaging (Regulations Essential Requirements). Other EU governments carried both sections together as one piece of law. Whilst biodegradability is not recognised in the Waste Regulations (see above) in the Essential Requirements, biodegradability and compostability are recognised and d2w™ meets those requirements.
The result of this is that in the UK d2w™ products can be sold as meeting the Essential Requirements but there is no exemption from the PRN charges for the time being i.e. until oxo-biodegradable plastics meet the relevant standard. In the EU, however, d2w™ products do not at present meet their equivalent of the Essential Requirements because they do not satisfy the Sturm Test which is the key part of the current EU standard and therefore are not formally acceptable for packaging (but see below). There are some exceptions e.g. in Italy where, in strictly legal terms, carrier bags are not 'packaging'.
For full detail see www.valpak.co.uk