Sustainable bags are being made available free-of-charge to travellers at the security halls of three UK airports in a first-of-a-kind trial.

AGS Airports has teamed up with Enviro-Point to offer the latter’s Oxo-Biodegradable bags (100ml) for liquids, aerosols and gels (LAGs) at Aberdeen (ABZ), Glasgow (GLA) and Southampton (SOU) Airports.

As the first airport group in the UK to pilot the bags, AGS Airports will remove more than two million single-use plastic bags each year across its network.

The product degrades over a selected period of time – between 17 and 24 months of a bag’s lifecycle – down to a natural biomass rather than into detrimental micro-plastics associated with single-use plastics.

‘FAIL SAFE’ OPTION

Each bag can be reused and recycled prior to the start of the degrading period.

Mark Johnston, Chief Operating Officer at AGS Airports said: “We are proud to be the first group to trial these new Oxo-Biodegradable security bags, which will significantly reduce single-use plastic consumption across our three airports.

“Finding a suitable alternative that met both our security and operational requirements while retaining the necessary resilience the bags require was a challenge, so we’re really pleased to be able to trial a product that can not only be re-used and recycled, but also provides our passengers with the assurance that they are also supporting our efforts to support the environment.”

By using Oxo-Biodegradable (d2w) in the manufacturing process of plastics speeds up natural oxidation, which limits the molecular weight of the polymer in a shorter timescale until it is no longer a plastic and can be gradually ‘bio-assimilated’ by bacteria and fungi on land and in the seas.

Graeme Stewart, Chief Executive, Enviro-Point added: “We have a long and trusted relationship with AGS through our association via Luggage-Point and I am delighted to see the group become the first in the UK to provide Oxo-Biodegradable liquid bags within their airports.

“Despite the current challenges facing the aviation industry, it is vital that we do not lose sight of environmental issues and as AGS has demonstrated, positive changes can still be made during these difficult times.

“I hope to witness further airports making the same positive change by introducing Enviro-Point’s Oxo-Biodegradable liquid bags, as small changes can often have the largest impact.

“Oxo-Biodegradable bags provide a ‘fail safe’ should the item not be recycled, as the product begins to Oxo Bio-degrade automatically wherever oxygen is present and will be completely bio-assimilated after 24 months.”

Enviro-Point is exhibiting at TRMarketplace (28 September – 02 October), the industry’s first digital networking forum.

For more information and to register, click here.