Tampons, pads and panty liners generate 200,000+ tonnes of landfill waste/year in the UK, and contain 90% plastic, which doesn't degrade. There is an growing demand from women to source environmentally friendly alternatives for their personal needs, and some green products have started to enter the market. Similar disposal problems exist with ostomy bags, incontinence pants, food packaging and medical dressings. To address this need for greener alternatives which remain affordable for consumers, we will develop a novel process which can deliver a composite material that can be manufactured into a range of water soluble biodegradable flushable products. Our novel process is to manufacture a biodegradable water soluble film material, where over 60% of the composite film is water soluble. The material does not degrade immediately upon contact with liquid to it’s outer surface, so can be used safely and then disposed of and only when submerged will the materials seperate allowing the greater water soluble element access to water and readily dissolving. Other sectors where the material could be utilised with or without the absorbent layer include ostomy pouches, food packaging and medical dressings. The ROI is 992% assuming a total cost to market of £250k.

Acedag Ltd is a successful manufacturer and distributor of plastic and polythene products since 1982, we have recognised the growth potential in the water soluble film for liquid detergent market. Using decades of experience we have developed a concept to produce the film at a price and rate which is more competitive than existing methods. More than 800 million laundry detergent capsules are sold each year in the UK alone, each made from water soluble PVOH manufactured using casting methods by a small number of companies worldwide. Due to a number of accidents with young children, who are attracted to the bright sweet like capsules the EU has introduced new rules which aim to prevent children being poisoned or burned by the laundry capsules. Our project is to prove our concept which uses a unique plasticising process as well as an innovative blown extrusion method to manufacture the blown water soluble PVOH that is suitable for packaging liquid detergent. The film produced will be a third cheaper and has a much higher production rate than current methods, as well as meeting with new regulations regarding child safety, enabling users to have a competitive edge.