Manufacturer of water soluble bags that can be used to isolate, store, transport & clean soiled laundry & linen. Bags are resistant to various organic solvents, greases & fats & will not generate static charge. Bags are ideal for hospitals, nursing homes & hotels that require minimal contact between staff & contaminated clothing / linen. Bags safely dissolve into harmless ingredients in cold, hot or warm water temperatures & can be sealed shut with tie tape closures.
Designed to provide safe & convenient collection & disposal of soiled laundry, linens & contaminated medical instruments. Bags contain a blend of natural and synthetic components that bind together when immersed in water for the purpose of collecting & holding soiled laundry, medical equipment & other materials. When placed in a washing machine or soiled laundry bin, bags prevent any contaminating residue from spilling out of the bag during transportation & storage & during the washing, disinfection & drying processes. Bags are odorless, clear & durable.
These unique bags are marketed as a solution to single-use plastics. However, there are a number of issues with this claim which need to be addressed before these products can be considered truly environmentally friendly. The primary issue with these PVA-based polybags is that their production / processing has a far higher carbon impact than traditional Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) polybags. Official life-cycle assessment (LCA) figures from one of the key suppliers of PVA film for these polybags show that their ‘average’ formulation has a much higher global warming potential than LDPE.
A second issue with the marketing of these bags is that they are marketed as’marine-safe’. It is difficult to define what this term means, but it seems to suggest that the bags will not degrade or break down in a marine environment and will therefore not cause any harm to marine wildlife. Unfortunately, tests carried out on PVA-based polybags in the UK have shown that these bags are unable to meet this claim.
The testing was carried out on a sample of PVA-based polybags made from 27 mm thick film. When these bags were filled with wheat flour and rapidly immersed into a washing machine filled with cold water, the bag was completely dispersed in the water but the undissolved grains of the wheat formed a paste that was reddish in colour. When the same test was repeated using a sample of bags made from 15 mm thick film, the bag broke up but did not fully dissolve in the water. This suggests that the thickness of the film is a crucial factor in the ability of these bags to biodegrade. Consequently, it is unlikely that these bags would be suitable for use in a home compost heap. Similarly, they are not likely to be suitable for commercially-available industrial compost systems either. This suggests that the claims made by this supplier are misleading at best and fraudulent at worst. water soluble bag manufacturers