Sylwia Bronkowska
Assuming that the average production worker in the food industry uses 3 pairs of disposable gloves per day, one plant employing 1,000 people uses 750,000 pairs of gloves per year. All of them will pollute the environment for the next 100 years.
Can this be changed?
One way for users of disposable gloves to reduce their environmental impact is to choose biodegradable products, meaning those that break down naturally under composting conditions (i.e., like household ‘bio’ waste). This happens by adding a ‘food grade’ element to the glove material – which makes such a product ‘attractive’ to the microorganisms that decompose waste in a landfill.
Does changing the composition of the glove affect its performance? No, because the basic composition remains the same, we just add another ingredient to the mix. The gloves can even be used in contact with chemicals (EN 374). In this case, do biodegradable gloves degrade already in the package? No. The biodegradation process begins only in the presence of microorganisms, in an active landfill, the so-called ‘shelf-life’ is a minimum of 3 years.
The reliability of a product’s ‘biodegradability’ claim can and even should be verified. Biodegradable products should be tested in accordance with ASTM D5511 and ASTM D5526, and the test mimics conditions from biologically active landfills (with the right amount of oxygen, temperature, pressure) and checks the time it takes to break down under natural conditions. Biotouch gloves from Unigloves degrade 90% in 490 days. Compared to the average decomposition time of standard gloves – about 100 years – this is a significant improvement. When choosing biodegradable products, it is worth paying attention to whether they are properly certified and whether their decomposition time is actually as declared by the manufacturer.
Biotouch biodegradable gloves from Unigloves can be a great solution wherever huge quantities of disposable gloves are used, and they are not contaminated with hazardous chemicals after use, i.e. in food processing or big-box stores (food stands), for example.
