Why BGDX (Biodegradable)?

Biodegradable has been in the rise the past few years and have become more and more important with the waste problems in the current world we live in. How do biodegradable polymers actually work and what are the benefit? Are biodegradable polymers the raw materials of the future for all current disposable applications?

Biodegradable polymers are a special class of polymer that breaks down after its intended purpose through a bacterial degradation process, resulting in natural by-products such as gases, water, biomass and inorganic salts.

Bio-based materials have been on the market for a long time as a green alternative in the past decades, among which edible films have gained more attention due to their environmentally friendly characteristics, vast variety and availability, non-toxicity and low cost. The Bio-based materials like PLA only breaks down under industrial circumstances but not by nature itself.

Although biodegradable polymers have numerous applications, there are properties that tend to be common among them. Biodegradable polymers should be stable and durable enough for use in their specific application, but upon disposal they should easily break down.

The biodegradable polymer that MaX has developed, called BDGX, is able to get decomposed by the action of micro-organisms such as bacteria or fungi biological, with or without oxygen, while getting assimilated into the natural environment. So our material is 100% biodegradable and is capable of being decomposed in nature and not harmful. Bioplastics is what most biodegradable and compostable plastics are called, in general they are made from plants rather than of fossil fuels. Of course, it depends on the size of the material how long it exactly takes to fully degrade. Films that are produced with BDGX are capable of degrading in nature in just a few months. That is a major progress and difference if you compare it to PET-material which takes 500 years to break down in nature. BDGX can be broken down in soil, home composting and industrial composing circumstances. PLA only under industrial circumstances and with the use of anaerobic digestion, which is more difficult and expensive to execute. Especially in the world we live in right now, with the terrible pollution by, among other things, excess waste, this can be a huge addition for the future and a cleaner environment.