For environmentally friendly rubber products, Natural Rubber is the obvious choice

Manufacturer: We are continuously under pressure from the market to make the so-called environmentally friendly rubber products. We have been told that natural rubber is the better choice compared to synthetic rubber. Your comment please.

Also, can natural rubber be made to have a different degree of biodegradability according to compounding formulation?

JohnWoon: Natural rubber is indeed a more biodegradable rubber compared to most synthetic rubbers. It is therefore both environmentally and ecologically more friendly. Several bacteria (micro-organism) in the soil and untreated water have been identified to be responsible for the biodegradation of natural rubber, the most common one being Nocardia asteroids. See picture below.


The environment best suits the activity of the micro-organism is normally one that ecologically has a balanced presence of oxygen, moisture, warmth, and various minerals and salts.

The thinner the rubber articles, the faster would be the degradation. Thin products such as toy balloons, condoms and medical gloves are expected to undergo biodegradation more quickly.

Yes, to a certain extent compound formulation could enhance or retard the rate of biodegradation. In my earlier posting, I recommended the EV-system to retard the biodegradation. Please click HERE.

As agreed more in-depth and detailed advice is being sent to you separately.

You are at the site for answers and solutions to all your problems in natural rubber latex processing and manufacturing of medical gloves, condoms, catheters, baby teats and baby pacifiers.