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We are proud to be manufacturing our frames with cellulose acetate. But what is it you may ask?

Cellulose Acetate is a natural plastic, which is manufactured from purified natural cellulose.

Natural cellulose is derived primarily from two sources, cotton and wood pulp. In the manufacturing process of Cellulose Acetate, natural cellulose is reacted with organic plasticisers to produce Cellulose Acetate, this goes through a range of processes to form your frames.

The resulting material is biodegradable, is highly malleable and has aesthetic appeal, it is also hypoallergenic, being better for you and the environment. 🌎♻️

Our acetate partner Mazzucchelli is world renowned for their sustainability practice and their approach to manufacturing biodegradable acetate.

 

In their own words, its natural on a new level:

M49 for a sustainable creativity.

When you think about plastic, in this period, you immediately think of something negative, both for the starting materials and for the problem of disposal. But what if we told you that M49 is not plastic as this term is generally understood? As a matter of fact, M49 is composed of cellulose acetate and a plasticizer of vegetable origin. The resulting formula is mostly composed of materials from renewable sources.

What makes M49 different?
Mazzucchelli 1849 has anticipated the evolution of the market by developing in its laboratories a formula that combines the physical mechanical characteristics of the classical formulation with a characteristic of strong eco-sustainability: M49
Traditional plasticizer has been replaced by a plasticizing solution of vegetable origin, thus making M49 a bioplastic with a remarkable bio-based content.
What is Bioplastic?  

According to the definition of the European Bioplastic Association bioplastics are different families of materials with different properties and can be divided into three main groups:

  1. Bio-based or partially bio-based
  2. Biodegradable even if from fossil resources (not bio-based) but in the future may be partially bio-based
  3. Bio-based and biodegradable

M49 is bio-based and biodegradable: it should be noted that plastic materials from natural origins are not always biodegradable and that sometimes plastic materials from fossil sources are. The advantage of M49 is to meet both requirements.

What does Biodegradable mean?

Biodegradability is a concept that often confuses, the most widespread idea is that, if a material is biodegradable, throwing it on the ground it will decompose over time, disappearing.

According to the International Organization for Standardization, the term biodegradable is used to define any material that can be broken down by the enzymatic activity of microorganisms, sunlight and other environmental physical agents, into simple chemical compounds such as water, carbon dioxide and methane. Biodegradation is influenced by the chemical nature of the material to be biodegraded and by the biodegradation environment. In order to define a plastic material as biodegradable, the degree of biodegradation must reach 90% in an incubation time of no more than 6 months.

The degree of biodegradation of M49 exceeds 90% already after 115 days of incubation and is therefore biodegradable (according to the UNI-EN-ISO 14855-2: 2018 standard).

Please see one of Mazzucchelli's process video's below and contact us for any more information on cellulose acetate.

Wandering around Mazzucchelli from Mazzucchelli 1849 on Vimeo.

 

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