News

Universeal UK pioneers biodegradable security seals 

Universeal UK has begun incorporating environmentally-friendly plastic technologies into our plastic security seals to mitigate against the environmental hazards of single-use plastics.

Awareness of the environmental damage caused by single-use plastics, especially in our rivers, lakes and oceans, has rightly taken centre-stage in the public consciousness in recent years. Whilst most security seals are manufactured from materials which are 100% recyclable, the difficulty of responsibly recycling security seals which might travel all over the world with their cargos has presented a major challenge for the security seal industry.

Formulating single-use plastics which can properly degrade into harmless by-products has been a major goal of the industry, but has been a technical challenge to solve. Whilst supposedly “biodegradable” and environmentally-friendly “green” plastic security seals have been around for years, unfortunately the materials they are made from have not always been the cure-all which some would claim.

The problem with many supposed green plastics is that they can actually contribute to the problem of plastic waste. For instance, “oxo-degradable” plastics have actually contributed to the problems of micro-plastics in recent years, and have been banned through many parts of the world. Similarly, other supposedly green “compostable” plastics only actually bio-degrade in special industrial composting facilities, which break the plastic down by using a combination of oxygen and heat. However, this means that if the plastic goes to normal landfill (of which around 80% of plastic still does) it will not biodegrade, as in such landfills there is not enough oxygen or heat to do the job of breaking the plastic down. The plastic therefore continues to persist for many hundreds or thousands of years in landfill. Alternatively, they are simply burnt and thereby release the carbon and other damaging substances which any other type of plastic would do. A further serious problem with these types of compostable plastics is that they cannot be recycled along with other types of conventional plastic – meaning that they can potentially cause more harm than good.

Over the last few years Universeal UK has been monitoring the development of technologies which can provide a better solution for single-use security seals. We are pleased to report that we have identified a revolutionary type of additive which can be incorporated into plastic security seals and can successfully biodegrade the plastic in the environments in which discarded security seals are commonly found: our landfill sites, or even worse, our oceans. The additive - which can be added to conventional plastic without affecting its properties - acts to break down the plastic even in anaerobic environments, once exposed to the types of bacteria commonly present in all types of conventional landfills, oceans and streams.

Once in contact with this bacteria, plastics can start breaking down as quickly as 30 days from their time of entering into the environment – this is in contrast to conventional plastic which persists for hundreds if not thousands of years. Test reports are showing that on average biodegradation is 200 times faster with the additive. By-products left behind are humus and methane (bio-mass and bio-gas), which are non-toxic; humus can actually be used as new soil to grow plants, and methane may be harvested into fuel. Independent third-party tests have shown that the additive conforms to ASTM 5511 testing standards, which is an internationally-recognised measure of biodegradation in anaerobic conditions prevalent in landfill environments. Reports showing biodegradation rates for particular samples are available upon request.

We are now offering production of the below security seal models with inclusion of special biodegradable Biosphere additive:-

	TabLOCK 20cm and 30cm     Multipurpose security seal available in two lengths, with/without tear-line... now available with Biosphere biodegradable additive.
	UNI411 Security Seal       Multipurpose security seal for roll cages, trucks and trailers... now available with Biosphere biodegradable additive.
	UNI412 Security Seal        Our strong pull-though security seal for cash bags, mail sacks, waste sacks, trucks.. now available with Biosphere biodegradable additive
	Uniflag Security Seal             Large flagged security seal, suitable for mail, industrial and labelling applications... .. now available with Biosphere biodegradable additive

Biodegradable, environmentally-friendly and recyclable security seals will help you to reduce your use of conventional environmentally-damaging single-use plastics in your supply chain.

In addition to biodegradable security seals, we are now offering another environmentally-friendlier, lower carbon solution for your security seals - seals manufactured from recycled content plastic material, with at least 30% of plastic material coming from post consumer recycling sources. Please read our blog here to further information. Our range of sustainable security seal solutions is shown here, showing both our recycled-plastic content and biodegradable security seal options.

Please contact us at [email protected] to discuss your requirements and how we can help your business to improve the impact of its operations around the world.