Environment
Packaging industry gets on Soap Box over biodegradable plastics
The disposal of biodegradable plastics was put under the spotlight this week on this week's Soap Box.
All of our respondents questioned the disposal methods of supposedly compostable or biodegradable materials.
"Most compostable packaging is not truly compostable, it is industrially compostable," posted Rob Nathan.
"This means that it will not degrade in a personal compost heap as the temperature will not attain that of an industrial composter," he said.
Harry Hotfoot added that most "degradable" material is oxydegradable and consequently "just breaks up into smaller pieces – not particularly good for the environment".
Danjim Marketing highlighted the contentious issue of using GM crops for compostable packaging and the higher cost of compostable packaging.
"Up until such time as people are better about recycling and reusing, landfill-degradable materials are best," concluded Rob Nathan.
The resounding answer from the industry seems to be that until biodegradable packs can breakdown in landfill then the focus should be on creating reusable and recyclable packs.
To add your comments to this week's discussion click here.
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Comments
Michal Stephen - 26 September 2008
There is a lot of confusion here.
Oxo-biodegradable plastics do not just fragment. When the d2w additive has broken the molecular chain the material is not longer a plastic – it is a material which will completely biodegrade by the action of micro-organisms into nothing more than water, with a tiny amount of CO2 and biomass. Until it reaches that stage it can be safely recycled.
Oxo-biodegradable plastics will compost, but they are not sold as compostable because there are not enough in-vessel composting facilities in the UK, and people should not attempt to compost plastic at home. Crop-based “hydro-biodegradable” plastics can also be composted in industrial facilities, but they are too expensive for everyday use and most composters do not want plastic of any kind in post-consumer feedstock.
Landfill is a red-herring. The benefit of oxo-biodegradable plastic is not for landfill, but to protect the planet from plastic waste which escapes into the environment on land or sea, and would otherwise lie around for decades. Oxo-biodegradable plastic will self-destruct in a few months, leaving no harmful residues. It does NOT contain heavy-metals.
In landfill, oxo-biodegradable plastic becomes inert in the absence of air, like ordinary plastic - but hydro-biodegradable emits methane, which is a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than CO2.
Many thousands of tonnes of d2w oxo-biodegradable plastics are now in safe and satisfactory use in more than 50 countries around the world.
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