PermaNet® 3.0 - Environment-friendly Packaging

Long-lasting insecticidal nets save numerous lives every year from malaria. However, most of these nets are packaged in plastic bags that are left scattered after large-scale bednet distributions, resulting in clogged landfills and choked rivers. Pollution from plastic packaging is a major environmental issue in developed and developing countries alike. Vestergaard Frandsen is sensitive to this and has therefore introduced an ecofriendly packaging solution - PermaNet^® oxodegradable plastic bags.

PermaNet^® oxodegradable plastic bag is formulated in a way that it turns ordinary plastic at the end of its shelf life into a material with a different molecular structure in the presence of oxygen (see figure below). At this stage, it is no longer a plastic and has become a material which is inherently biodegradable in the open environment in the same way as a leaf. It cannot then entangle wild creatures nor block drains, and it is no longer a form of visual pollution. It does not leave fragments of plastic, and it is not toxic.

PermaNet^® oxodegradable plastic bag degrades at a much shorter timescale than ordinary plastic. It does not contain heavy metals, is non-toxic and recyclable.