Polypropylene baler twine

Photo-biodegradable polyethylene using the above system was developed commercially for use in agriculture by D. Gilead of Plastopil Hazorea in Israel in collaboration with the author and is now widely used as Plastor in mulching films in Europe and Plastigone in the USA. It is also used in polypropylene baler twines as Cleanfields by AMBRACO in the USA, and in controlled release fertilisers as Nutri-cote by Chisso-Asahi Fertilizer Company in Japan. The biodegradation mechanism will be discussed below. 

In the USA photo-biodegradable polypropylene baler twines based on SG oxo-biodegradable PP have been used for 15 years and substantially replaced conventional PP slit films in hay wrapping and crop-protection netting. These are given a useful life of one year and this is followed by rapid disintegration and bioassimilation. 

Coarse products suitable for the manufacture of baler twines, ropes and hawsers are made by flat film extrusion, water-bath quenching, air-oven stretching and optionally annealing thick film strips. The oriented strips are twisted and coarse fibrillation then occurs spontaneously. These polypropylene twines and ropes are stronger than ropes of sisal or manilla... 

---