In response to the recent media coverage regarding the California Attorney General filing a lawsuit against companies doing business in California that are labeling their product packaging as “biodegradable”. At this time ENSO Plastics is unable to comment specifically about the details of any such lawsuit as we have not had the opportunity to read the lawsuit.

We do however, strongly believe in our company’s mission to rid the world of plastic pollution and have been dedicated for the past three years in bringing the most sound environmental plastic solutions to market. We stand behind our technology and the claims that our company makes in stating that standard plastics enhanced with our biodegradable additive are fully recyclable and if placed in an environment with microbes, will naturally biodegrade.

We in no way claim that our technology is the silver bullet to solving the massive plastic pollution issue our world faces. It is however a huge step in the right direction and a cost effective solution that can be implemented within todays manufacturing and end-of-life options. We do recognize that a key component in continuing to move towards the perfect solution is to address the sourcing issue of plastics and to move away from fossil fuel based polymers. Our company is one of a few companies who are diligently working towards offering renewable bio-polymers (with the same physical properties) that will address the sourcing issue which also provides a fully recyclable and naturally biodegradable end-of-life option. We also recognize that our industry is young and we have a ways to go to improving the processes to allow our industry to mature as needed. We are continually improving the testing process and working with organizations to provide more thorough data and information for the public.

Each of us have contributed in one way or another to our global plastic pollution issue and it will be up to each of us to work together to solve the very problem we created. The public is ready for change and is looking for more environmental packaging and plastic solutions. It is unfortunate that such a law could get passed that would inhibit biodegradable technologies from being labeled as such. We fully support the premise of the law to prevent “greenwashing”, but do not agree that banning or preventing the use of proper labeling of a package as a step toward solving that problem. We believe consumers should be allowed to know if their product packaging is biodegradable and if so, provided with the details of how and in what environments the packaging will biodegrade.

It is also unfortunate that this law specifically allows the use of product packaging which is compostable to be labeled as “compostable”, but for competing technologies such as ours, makes it illegal for companies to properly label their packaging as “biodegradable”. It leads one to question the true intent behind the law, especially when that law was supported and sponsored by the compostable plastics industry organization. It’s unfortunate, because there is currently very little infrastructure in place for composting facilities to accept compostable plastics. As a result, tons of compostable plastics end up in either the recycle stream or in landfill environments; neither provides the environmental benefit of the product. In our view of greenwashing, a company making a claim to an environmental benefit that cannot be achieved is the most serious form of “greenwashing”.

ENSO Plastics has all intentions of working with the California Attorney General to comply with the labeling law. We will continue forward with pursuing our mission to help solve the world’s plastic pollution issue and continue to improve the science and validity of our young industry. We would invite everyone to join with us in our efforts towards a cleaner future.

Sincerely,
Danny Clark
President
ENSO Plastics