UV Stabilised Polythene Explained: What You Are Paying For
Plain polythene left out in the sun will fail fast. Ordinary plastic sheeting can’t take much sun before it starts to fail. A few months is often enough. It goes brittle, cracks along the fold lines, and rips apart the first time the wind gets under it. Some polytunnel plastic UK suppliers sell lasts five years. Other plastic can fall apart in one summer. There’s a reason for that gap. It comes down to whether UV stabilisers went into the mix before the plastic left the factory. Choosing the right polytunnel plastic makes all the difference. Does polyethene resist UV on its own? No, not without help. Polyethene is the base material in almost all polytunnel plastic UK growers use. Without treatment, it has nothing to stop ultraviolet light attacking it. Sunlight tears the polymer chains apart at a molecular level. Photodegradation is the name for that process. Give it enough exposure and the sheet goes cloudy, then chalky, then it starts flaking off in your hand. That’s wh...