Symphony Environmental blasts 'misleading' BBC report as shares fall

Plastics group Symphony Environmental Technologies on Monday published a second defence of its oxo-biodegradable technology in response to a critical report from the BBC last week.

The BBC News report on 19 July raised doubts over how long oxo-biodegradable plastics take to degrade in water, echoing concerns from the European Commission, but the AIM-traded company insisted that its technology had been scientifically proven to reduce dwell-time of plastic that escapes recycling.

The firm said that the "misleading" media coverage had caused "considerable confusion".

Symphony countered the report with a statement that said more than 20 years of data and evidence that plastics made with its d2w technology do not produce persistent micro-plastics like other normal plastic product.

Plastics can float around in bodies of water for decades before becoming biodegradable and will persist and accumulate as a problem for future generations, breaking down into micro-plastics and potentially attracting and carrying toxins.

The firm pointed out that the majority of its sales come from outside of Europe, with 90% arising from developing countries that possess little or no recycling or collection systems.

Symphony said its technology constituted a practical alternative to initially considered restrictions on or even banning plastics in growing economies and are used in products such as drinking straws, coffee capsules, cutlery and crop growing films.

Michael Laurier, Symphony's chief executive, said: "The global market of plastic production is estimated at 320m tons per annum and growing. These global realities, combined with our scientifically proven d2w and other smart plastic technologies, will continue to open up new market opportunities as the world looks at innovative products and change."

Symphony Environmental Technologies’ shares were down 8.33% at 13.75p at 1603 BST.