News

Albany Bakeries is to add Symphony Environmental Technologies' oxo-biodegradable additive to its bread wrappers and reduce the amount of waste it sends to landfill.

The firm is a subsidiary of food producer Tiger Brands and owns 12 bakeries in South Africa that produce the Albany Superior, Olde Cape, D'light and Everyday brands.

Meghan Draddy, Tiger Brands' packaging development manager for grains, cereals, milling and baking, said the firm had become South Africa's first national food company to tackle the litter and plastic waste pollution resulting from its bakery operations.

Symphony said it had supplied the firm with enough additive to biodegrade up to 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste. The additives are recognisable by the d2w droplet logo on a product.

Plastic materials treated with the oxo-biodegradable additives undergo a two-step degradation, initially by an oxidative process that is promoted by the inclusion of the additives and subsequently by biodegradation.

Symphony chief executive Michael Laurier said: "In addition to bread bags, our oxo-biodegradable technology can make carrier bags, shrink-wrap packaging and plastic bottles self-destruct within a period of between six months and two years."