SYM Symphony Environmental Technologies Plc

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement via regulatory news service this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

31 January 2024

Symphony Environmental Technologies plc

("Symphony" or the "Company")

EU Compensation Claim

Court Judgment

Symphony Environmental Technologies plc (AIM: SYM), global specialists in technologies that make plastic and rubber products smarter, safer and more sustainable, announces that on 31 January 2024 the General Court of the European Union ("EU")("General Court") has delivered its judgement and declined to declare the relevant part of Article 5 of the Single-use Plastic Directive 2019/904 (the "Article") as being invalid. This judgement relates to Symphony's d2w biodegradable business only.

The Company will update further once the full judgment has been read and analysed.

Enquiries

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Symphony Environmental Technologies plc

www.symphonyenvironmental.com

Symphony has developed a range of additives, concentrates and master-batches marketed under its d2p® ("designed to protect") trademark, which can be incorporated in a wide variety of plastic and non-plastic products so as to provide protection against many different types of bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae, moulds, and insects, and against fire.  d2p products also include odour, moisture and ethylene adsorbers as well as other types of food-preserving technologies. For an overview see www.d2p.net   Symphony has launched d2p anti-microbial household gloves and toothbrushes and "Symfresh" food-packaging and is developing a range of other d2p finished-products for retail sale.

Symphony has also developed a biodegradable plastic technology which addresses the problem of persistent microplastics, by turning ordinary plastic at the end of its service-life into a waxy substance which is biodegradable. It is then no longer a plastic and can be bioassimilated in the open environment in a similar way to a leaf without leaving microplastics behind. The technology is branded d2w® and appears as a droplet logo on many thousands of tonnes of plastic packaging and other plastic products around the world, much of which has been recycled. In some countries, oxo-biodegradable plastic is mandatory for short-life plastic products.

d2w technology was studied for three years in the Oxomar project, sponsored by the French government, which concluded that plastic made with Symphony's d2w oxo-biodegradable technology will biodegrade in seawater significantly more efficiently than conventional plastic. See https://www.biodeg.org/subjects-of-interest/agriculture-and-horticulture/the-marine-environment/ 

Following this report, the scientists allowed bacteria commonly found in the open environment access to d2w oxo-biodegradable plastic containing Carbon 13.  They found Carbon 13 in the carbon dioxide exhaled by the bacteria, proving beyond doubt that the plastic had been bioassimilated by the bacteria.

Symphony has complemented its d2w and d2p product ranges with d2c "compostable resins and products" that have been tested to US and EU composting standards and has invested in Eranova - a French company extracting starch for making plastics out of algae.

Symphony has also developed the d2Detector®, a portable device which analyses plastics and detects counterfeit products.  This is useful for government officials tasked with enforcing legislation, and Symphony's d2t tagging and tracer technology is available for further security.

Symphony has a diverse and growing customer-base and has established itself as an international business with over 70 distributors around the world. Products made with Symphony's plastic technologies are now available in nearly 100 countries and in many different product applications. Symphony itself is accredited to ISO9001 and ISO14001.

Symphony is a founder-member of The BPA (www.biodeg.org) and actively participates in the Committee work of the British Standards Institute (BSI), the American Standards Organisation (ASTM), the European Standards Organisation (CEN), and the International Standards Organisation (ISO).

Further information on the Group can be found at www.symphonyenvironmental.com and twitter @SymphonyEnv   See also Symphony on Instagram. A Symphony App is available for downloading to smartphones.