Bioplastic Frames

The environment preservation is the focus of our project and therefore we decided to take a sustainable approach while choosing the materials we used for our sunglasses. Our sunglasses are made with M49 Bioplastic, which is both Bio-based and biodegradable and grant to our product a whole different level of sustainability.

Bioplastic Frames

WHAT IS BIOPLASTIC?

According to the definition of the European Bioplastic Association bioplastics are different families of materials with different properties and can be divided into three main groups:

  • Bio-based or partially bio-based

  • Biodegradable even if from fossil resources (not bio-based) but in the future may be partially bio-based

  • Bio-based and biodegradable

M49 is bio-based and biodegradable: it should be noted that plastic materials from natural origins are not always biodegradable and that sometimes plastic materials from fossil sources are. The advantage of M49 is to meet both requirements.

 

WHAT DOES BIO-BASED MEAN?

The term "bio-based" refers to the material's natural and renewable nature. The proportion of the product derived from renewable sources is stated in percentage value and indicates how much of the product is derived from renewable sources and how much from fossil sources. The Bioplastic we use reaches almost 70% of renewable sources in its components.

 

WHAT IS BIODEGRADABLE MEANING?

The most common misconception about biodegradability is that if a substance is biodegradable, putting it on the ground would degrade and disappear over time. Biodegradation is influenced by the chemical nature of the material to be biodegraded. To be considered biodegradable, a plastic material's degree of biodegradation must reach 90% in no more than 6 months of incubation. After just 115 days of incubation, the degree of biodegradation of M49 approaches 90%, indicating that it is fully biodegradable.

 

WHAT DOES COMPOSTABLE MEAN?

It is defined compostable (which can be transformed into compost) any material which is not only biodegradable but also disintegrating through a controlled aerobic process and whose decomposition process takes less than 3 months. Therefore a biodegradable material is not automatically also compostable, to be considered compostable it must meet both the biodegradation and disintegration requirements and the compost that is obtained must not have negative effects on the plants.

 

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