Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110

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Anti-microbial plastic - an answer to the lack of human hygiene

Anti-microbial plastic is the best answer to contamination from the lack of basic human hygiene revealed in a recent survey, according to the CEO of Britain's leading specialist in degradable and anti-microbial plastics.

Commenting on research from Queen Mary University and the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, showing that one in 10 bank cards and one in seven bank notes are contaminated with faecal matter, Michael Laurier says:

"We know that credit cards can be contaminated, along with other well-used plastic items like computer keyboards, telephones, door handles, etc. This is nearly always from the human hand, and the researchers reported faecal contamination on 26% of the hands they tested.

"We have found a way of making plastic cards hostile to bacteria and so we could make every new credit and bank card in the world anti-bacterial within a few months, and at an easily affordable cost. Why not start now?

"Anti-bacterial plastic should be introduced as quickly as possible in schools, hospitals, public lavatories, etc, and other multi-use environments where bacteria can be picked up and passed on, e.g., handrails in trains and buses. The urgency lies in the fact that more microbes are becoming resistant to antibiotics, so it is important to deal with them before they enter the human body."

Symphony's anti-microbial protection can be added to most ordinary types of plastic such as PE, PVC, PS, PET and PP and it is effective against MRSA, E.Coli, Salmonella, LIsteria, Pseudomanas and Aspergillus Niger. These are dangerous bugs which lurk everywhere, in hospitals, schools, offices, as well as the interior of long-life shopping bags and plastic water bottles.

In addition, Symphony can give plastic products protection against many forms of fungi and mould which cause contamination and wastage of bread, fruit, and other foodstuffs. A recent application of this technology has been in plastic ventilation pipes where fungal spores grow, and can then be distributed through the ventilation system into people's lungs.

Tel: +44 20 8207 5900
Fax: +44 20 8207 7632
Email: [email protected]
www.degradable.net

8th November 2012