TUBEX,
a Fiberweb business, launched TUBEX 12D its new material technology
at Confor Woodland Show, September 2013. Despite having already
responded to customer demands for its well proven treeshelters to
offer a degree of degradability, TUBEX has continued to invest in
material technology to offer its customers even more certainty over
product degradation.
The newly launched TUBEX 12D responds to the
challenge of its existing range not always degrading quickly enough
through photosensitivity by incorporating an advanced biopolymer,
combined with a catalyst, to accelerate the process. For those not
familiar with the TUBEX range, or the concept, the company's
treeshelters are based on the original idea in 1979 of Graham Tuley
to protect small saplings using a green cylindrical tube.
These
treeshelters protect saplings from animal browsing, herbicide spray
and create a microclimate for enhanced growth. Having always been
committed to meeting its customer's requirements across a range of
applications from forestry and horticulture to local authority parks
and ground maintenance, TUBEX embarked on finding a solution to the
problem of degradation in 2006.
With TUBEX traditional shelters long
been made out of polypropylene, whose sensitivity to photodegradation
has been controlled by a UV stabiliser, the new TUBEX 12D
incorporates a biopolymer; similar to ingredients used to thicken
soup, and a catalyst to speed up degradation by reacting with oxygen,
moisture, bacteria and fungi. Having spent 6 years testing different
variations of the material, TUBEX are confident that this new
material technology will allow its customers to still experience all
the benefits of a traditional shelter, whilst giving the added
benefit of improved degradation. Hence: 1 – Install a sapling, 2 –
Establish a tree 3 – treeshelter degrades.
TUBEX 12D will be
available across the core product range including: Standard,
Combitube, Ventex, Ecostart, Shrubshelter and Easywrap. Customers
will then be able to choose after what timeframe they wish the
product to degrade, 3 years or 5 years, depending on what the site
requirements are. This next generation treeshelter is an incremental
step forward in the product range not only in providing customers
with cost savings from reducing the need for treeshelter removal, but
it uses a portion of its material from sustainable sources. Test
sites in Usk, Wales and Baden-Baden, Germany, are being made
available for guided tours, so that prospective customers are able to
see examples of TUBEX 12D degrading.
Please contact Catherine Fyfe –
Product Manager for more information on 01621 874273.
