For Transcontinental Media, our new GoBag, Newfoundland's leader in door-to-door distribution, customers’ environmental concerns come first. Transcontinental has committed to promoting everyday practices that support sustainable development and
help protect the environment.  
 
• Made with an oxo-biodegradable technology called TDPA (Totally Degradable
Plastic Additives), GoBags decompose naturally. The technology was
developed by EPI (Environmental Products Inc.), a Vancouver firm considered to be
on the leading edge of environmental technologies.
 
• The GoBag is a low-density polyethylene bag to which a small quantity (2%) of
TDPAs (Totally Degradable Plastic Additives) has been added during the
manufacturing process, making the plastic biodegradable. This EPI technology
allows the GoBag to decompose completely within 120 days of disposal and to
biodegrade within the next 12 to 24 months.   
 
• EPI oxo-biodegradable bags can be considered to be
compatible with recycling methods used for traditional plastic bags (as shown by the
results obtained during mixture preparation and the profile and film extrusion
process, as well as the initial mechanical performance of mixture profiles and films
following accelerated weathering).
 
• The plastic recycling logo with the number 4 (for low-density plastic) is printed on our bags.
 
• The follow-up on plastic certification standards is in constant progress, and GoBag
will make the changes requested by the BNQ. The resin itself (EPI) already complies
with international standard ASTM D6954-04.
 
• Transcontinental Media, via its Prevention and Environment Office in Quebec, has checked the information printed on the GoBag and validated use of the Mobius strip logo.
Reuse and recycling tests carried out by the Centre de Recherche Industriel Québec
(CRIQ Test 640-PE35461, August 2007) for Recyc-Québec have demonstrated that
bags made of oxo-biodegradable plastic containing EPI TDPA® resins are entirely
acceptable in the traditional plastic recycling stream. Recycling tests with oxo-
biodegradable plastics mixed with traditional HDPEs in concentrations of 5% to 50%
as well as weathering tests for cycles of two to seven days have shown that recycled
plastic resin can be reused. EPI resin is biodegradable as per standard ASTM
D6954-04 in carbon and carbon dioxide, water and other substances, a process
accomplished by microorganisms in the earth when a bag is disposed of in a dump
or landfill site.