Cement, Energy and Environment

BAG TO NATURE Mondi Industrial Bags has developed the world's first biodegradable industrial bag with humidity protection and certified compostability. The following article Pulp & Com B.-d Granute , P..,.,&Fllm Production provides a technical description of the bag 's make-up and benefits. WoodCh.,_ & ftour Introduction Mondi Industrial Bags has developed the world's first biodegradable industrial bag with humidity protection and certified compostability: Terra Bag. It consists of a paper bag (one or more plies) with a biodegradable film for humidity protection. The entire bag is biodegradable and optimized for industrial composting. Terra Bag is certified according to EN 13432, a harmonized European standard that defines the 'requirements for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation'. The awareness of environmental issues is constantly increasing. With regard to waste, the EU has issued a directive to reduce landfill of waste and its adverse effects on the environment. The concept is being implemented throughout Europe, favouring prevention, reusage, recycling and composting in waste management. It is against this background that Mondi Industrial Bags has developed the Terra Bag. With this product Mondi is extending its Green Range® of paper and packaging products optimized to save natural resources and reduce waste. WOod & Com &owing Collaboration with customer and suppliers Terra Bag was developed in close collaboration with the French cement producer Ciments Calcia (ltalcementi Group), the film extruder Barbier, cereals producer and Mondi customer Limargrain. Since the project was launched in 2007, each partner contributed to the successful development of the biodegradable bag, Mondi's bag know-how resulted in a solution meeting the clear requirements of Ciments Calcia to achieve the same product quality with regard to filling speed and bag resistance. The six months' labellisation process was successfully led by Mondi's application engineers and resulted in obtaining the OK compost label for industrial composting, which confirms the compliance with EN 13432, from the Belgian independent organization AlB Vin~otte . Organlo Waattt Collectton J Compo•ttng Blodegnldatton C02, H20 Btoma.. Biodegradable film The biodegradable film used for Terra Bag is partly made from corn . Joined together with sack kraft paper, also made from renewable resources and biodegradable, these components ideally complement the sustainable industrial packaging solution. The entire bag can be composted within 12 weeks in an industrial composting facility after usage. During this process, the bag is broken down by micro– organisms, finally resulting in humus, suitable for agriculture or gardening. European legislation Following the development of the EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste (94/62/EC), an EU harmonized standard for compostable and biodegradable packaging - EN 13432:2000 'Packaging: requirements for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation' - was introduced in 2000. 28 ---- -