Symphony upbeat on new Mexican biodegradable plastics standard

Symphony Environmental Technologies said on Tuesday that the Mexican Ministry for the Economy has published a new technical standard with “positive commercial implications” for its ‘d2w’ biodegradable technology in Mexico and the wider Latin America region.

The AIM-traded firm said the technical standard was similar to ‘ASTM D6954’ - a US standard for exposing and testing plastics that degrade in the environment by a combination of oxidation and biodegradation - and acknowledged and validated the technology including Symphony's d2w ‘masterbatch’ for the accelerated biodegradation of plastic in the open environment as litter.

It said Mexico was joining other countries with a similar standard in Latin America, including Peru, Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic, as well as the UK, France and Sweden in Europe.

Additionally, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in the Middle East also mandated similar standards for a range of plastic products made in or imported into the countries.

The technical standard would come into effect on 29 October, marking “another positive regulatory outcome” in Latin America for Symphony's d2w technology.

It added that it “further vindicates” Symphony's long-term investment in advocacy in Mexico and Latin America, where it was continuing its “transparent and technically-led” engagement with customers and legislators.

“Mexico is a key market for Symphony, and we are pleased to see that the Mexican government has issued the correct standard for testing and certifying our d2w biodegradable technology,” said chief executive officer Michael Laurier.

“We are confident that this new technical standard will provide plastic packaging converters and end users with additional reassurance, as they will be using a technology that is fully compliant with the Mexican standard for biodegradation in the open environment.

“We also believe that this new Mexican standard will help create further momentum for d2w's commercial growth in Mexico and in Latin America and shows official acceptance of d2w technology, which turns ordinary plastics into biodegradable materials.”

At 1059 BST, shares in Symphony Environmental Technologies were up 6.25% at 19.12p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.