The challenge was this: make a fastening product that is strong enough to be hit with a hammer, tough enough to remain outdoors, but be more environmentally sustainable and ultimately biodegradable so that after deployment, it can be safely left in the soil.

The customer, Maccaferri New Zealand Ltd, presented this conundrum to Mulford Engineering Plastics and they solved it with a new and unique solution in leading-edge materials and design expertise. In the process of delivering a solution to this customer’s particular challenge, Mulfords have commercialised the first large scale use of a new eco-friendly plastic material developed by New Zealand Crown Research Institute Scion, and developed a product called Biopeg®.

Maccaferri are a recognised world leader in soil stabilisation systems. They needed a product to secure their specialist range of natural, biopolymer and synthetic fibre erosion control blankets (ECB’s) and turf revegetation mats (TRM’s) to the ground surface to effect a safe and sustainable solution. The peg needed to be able to withstand hammering into place, to resist pull-out forces exerted by winds or heavy rain fall-off, and to degrade benignly over several years, so that it could be left safely in place after soils were stabilised by new plant growth. Many traditional pins can be a potential liability to land owners such as councils and it was important to be able to have a pin that reduced such injury risk to the public from foot traffic in situations where the public had current or future access.

The Mulford Engineering Plastics Christchurch-based design team of Barry Pett and Graeme Wooldridge came up with a unique product design which utilised a combination of new sustainable, natural, and biodegradable materials.

These eco-friendly materials were developed in New Zealand in conjunction with Scion and manufactured for Mulfords under license, from a formulated mixture of materials that are friendly to the environment. The polymers used in these products ultimately decompose into water, carbon dioxide and humus. Decomposition occurs naturally through the combined actions of bacteria, fungi and natural weathering.

Additives in the material are simply natural minerals and biomass derived by-products. At least 30% of the product weight consists of these natural or bio based additives which are sourced from within New Zealand.

Biopeg® is being marketed worldwide through Maccaferri New Zealand Ltd (www.maccaferri.co.nz).

For inquiries about green product design, the use of biodegradable materials and technical solutions in plastics, call Mulford Engineering Plastics on ph: +64 3 343 7950.