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Some Biodegradable Plastics Don't Live Up To Their Claims
ckwu writes From bread bags to beverage bottles, many plastics now contain additives designed to make the materials biodegradable. But a new study shows that plastics made with such additives do not biodegrade in the environment significantly faster than those without the compounds. Researchers prepared films of commercial plastics with three different types of additives supplied by their manufacturers. The researchers then treated the film samples to mimic disposal of such plastics in a compost pile, a landfill, and soil. After about six months of composting, a year and a half of landfill-like conditions, and three years of soil burial, the plastics with additives did not show any more evidence of biodegradation than plastics without them.
20 years ago I got a yellow rain jacket (the trash bag kind) once when on a cruise by Niagra falls. Written on the back in huge block letters was the word "Biodegradable". It is still usable today. I have little trust of biodegradable plastics until I see proof.
I read the internet for the articles.
The problem is that the companies selling crap products like this don't care if they really work or if they're helping reduce plastic in landfills. They simply want a buzzword which makes their product appear more desirable, and possibly allows them to charge a premium price.
They're terrified of the competition which makes actual, biodegradable plastic-replacement out of cellulose.
I'm sure these idiots know the proper way to biodegrade plastic is expose it to UV. Which makes me wonder what their motivation was for testing in other conditions? Granted, these are "normal" disposal methods, but if you read the products they usually say "biodegradable in sunlight".
So crying that they don't biodegrade when buried is like buying solar panels and then complaining they don't produce power at night.
> A real recycle program, not one where you have to pay to get the stuff taken away
Or worse, a recycle program where you have to drive somewhere to drop it off. For instance, currently in my area, although we have curbside recycling for glass and some plastics and cardboard, there's currently no way to recycle CFLs that doesn't involve driving to a recycling center. Besides wasted fuel and emissions, the collateral damage of this is that most people just throw CFLs away and the mercury ends up in landfill. And groundwater.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
A real recycle program
That would be good. Even better would be to reduce the amount of plastic we use in the first place. When I receive shipments from Amazon, the packaging usually weighs more than the products. This is necessary because of the workers at UPS/USPS/FedEx that drop, throw, and step on the packages. When we replace these idiots with robots, a lot less packaging will be needed.
We had to separate glass, plastics, and paper. The a truck comes around and dumps all three bins and the garbage cans in to the same trash truck without any form of separator.
And to induce more rage- they won't pick it up if it is not sorted properly.
Second this, the only place to return CFLs for us is the Home Depot. The municipal transfer station doesn't accept hazardous waste, which they consider CFLs. They do a free county-wide recycling day ONCE A YEAR that you have to drive to in another town, but even still they don't accept CFLs.
> A real recycle program, not one where you have to pay to get the stuff taken away
Or worse, a recycle program where you have to drive somewhere to drop it off. For instance, currently in my area, although we have curbside recycling for glass and some plastics and cardboard, there's currently no way to recycle CFLs that doesn't involve driving to a recycling center. Besides wasted fuel and emissions, the collateral damage of this is that most people just throw CFLs away and the mercury ends up in landfill. And groundwater.
Yup. Given the choice of an 80 mile round trip to a location that is only open M-F during normal business hours and tossing them in the trash guess which one gets picked? Ultimately I think one solution would be to require the manufacturer to take back and arrange for recycling or proper disposal. That would add to the upfront cost but eliminate a lot of back end problems. Of course, manufacturers will whine about the cost but I think bottle deposit laws are a good example of what may happen. Bottlers complained but when states tried to take over rte program they resisted because they were taking in more deposit money than they were paying out and spending to run the program.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
A real recycle program
That would be good. Even better would be to reduce the amount of plastic we use in the first place. When I receive shipments from Amazon, the packaging usually weighs more than the products. This is necessary because of the workers at UPS/USPS/FedEx that drop, throw, and step on the packages. When we replace these idiots with robots, a lot less packaging will be needed.
In fairness to FedEx their sorting operation in Memphis already use robots that weigh and measure each package to minimize the forces used during sorting. the drivers, well that's another story. Given Amazon's size and volume manufacturers could package stuff more reasonably. Do I really need a tamper proof sealed plastic case for an item I buy through Amazon? Amazon already packages some of their Amazon labeled stuff more sanely in cardboard and I wish they'd push manufacturers to do something similar for what they sell via Amazon.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Curbside recycling doesn't help much either when it's just for homeowners, as it seems to be most places. The homeowners around here have their recycling bins, but none of the apartments I've lived in have ever had any recycling options for any materials.
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don't care if they really work or if they're helping reduce plastic in landfills.
Biodegradable does NOT mean they degrade in landfills. Landfills tend to have very dry conditions, so almost nothing will rot. It is common for them to contain century old newspapers, and dessicated food. Biodegradability is important for plastic discarded along roadsides, or adrift in the ocean, not for landfills. It is arguable whether it is even desirable to have landfill material decompose. Decomposing releases CO2, methane, and other greenhouse gases. If the material remains intact, we can dig up and recover materials as recycling techniques improve. We are already doing this with some landfills. It is called Landfill Mining. The only rationale for decomposing landfill material is the myth that we are "running out of space", but that is nonsense. We have enough landfill space to last for centuries, even with our current wasteful practices.