Enviro News

Biodegradability is a relative term referring to the breakdown of material by the action of bacteria present throughout the environment. Most materials can be broken down by bacterial action given suitable time and a suitable environment.

Thus the quantitative assessment of biodegradability of surface-active agents present in most domestic and industrial detergents is dependent on the time factor and the test employed.

The Federal Government’s advisory body in such matters is the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).  The State and the Government have accepted an NHMRC recommendation that states that surfactants to be used in cleaning and washing compounds should be ‘soft’. The NHMRC defines ‘soft’ or biodegradable surfactant as one, which is degraded by 80% or more when evaluated by a standard test procedure.

Conversely a non-biodegradable surfactant or ‘hard’ surfactant does not degrade to this extent.
The test procedure is now formalized in Australian Standard AS 1792-1976
“Method for Determining the Biodegradability of Surfactants”.

ENVIROCARE EARTH PRODUCTS:
ENVIRO CLEAN, ENVIRO CARE, ENVIRO LAUNDRY & ENVIRO PET utilize only ‘soft’ surfactants or completely BIODEGRADABLE surfactants as defined by the recommendation of the NHMRC.