Green Living
What is Biodegradable Plastic? Is It Sustainable?
Last Updated on June 25, 2024
You’ve probably heard the term “biodegradable plastic” before: But what exactly does that mean?
Well, technically plastic is already biodegradable. Everything is. All biodegradable really means is that it will eventually break down.
However, plastic does not break down in the same way something like an apple or banana would: It breaks up into microplastics and continues to leach into the environment or landfill over time.
On top of this, plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, and when it does, it just turns into microplastics.
In fact, humans have created 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics since large-scale production began in the early 1950s, most of which still reside in landfills or the natural environment. In other words, all the plastic we have used is still here, in one form or another.
Biodegradability is not the ideal: Being compostable is. When you can compost something, that means it will eventually break down (usually in a shorter time span) and become part of the soil. Both virgin and recycled plastic cannot do this.
Therefore, for the sake of clarity, when I refer to “biodegradable plastic” for this post, I am talking about bioplastics, aka, plastics that have compostable elements.
Here’s everything you need to know about biodegradable plastic, if it’s actually sustainable, and what brands are using it.
what is the problem with biodegradable plastics?
The problem with biodegradable plastics is that not all of them are compostable. Some biodegradable plastics are made from a mix of materials both renewable and petrochemical based.
For example, bio-based PET is a polymer that is partly (up to 30%) produced from plant biomass, such as sugar. The rest is made from plastic, which means it will never completely decompose.
It’s important to understand that something can be biodegradable, but not compostable. In other words, yes, it will break down over time, but it will not add any beneficial nutrients to the soil during this process.
Here are a few other issues biodegradable plastics face.
not recyclable
People will sometimes mistake biodegradable plastics for actual plastic and add them into their recycling bins. This is especially true if the material resembles plastic.
Many recycling facilities do not have the right machinery to recycle biodegradable plastics. This means it will often end up in landfills.
limited access to industrial composting
Not everyone has access to industrial composting facilities, which is often what’s needed to break down biodegradable plastic. In situations like this, biodegradable plastics will end up in the trash, or contaminate a recycling bin. This entirely defeats the purpose of it being compostable.
For biodegradable plastics to be sustainable, they must be collected and paired with the right recovery systems, so that the material stays in the loop and out of the environment.
If you don’t have access to industrial composting facilities, Lomi could be a potential solution to this problem. Lomi is a Smart Waste Appliance that can fit on a countertop and breaks down your food scraps (and certain biodegradable plastics) within a few hours using heat, abrasion, and oxygen.
used to make disposables
One last issue with biodegradable plastic is that it can often be treated like a stand-in for plastic. In other words, it can continue to encourage a disposal culture that is not sustainable.
Even if the biodegradable plastic you’re using is compostable, it’s still wasteful to use it just once where a reusable item will do. For example, using a reusable fork in place of a biodegradable plastic fork is the better alternative.
Biodegradable plastic, even when compostable, still requires energy and resources to make. If we treat it like a single-use item, it’s a waste. Instead, we should focus on using bioplastics to make durable products that can be reused (like Pelacase’s phone cases!).
RELATED: 9 Eco Friendly Phone Cases to Protect Your Phone
do biodegradable plastics actually biodegrade?
Yes, biodegradable plastics do actually biodegradable. Technically, everything is biodegradable.
Biodegradation can take anywhere from a few days (for vegetable scraps) to over 500 years (for a plastic bag).
When an object biodegrades, its original composition breaks down into simpler components like biomass, carbon dioxide, and water.
However, biodegradable plastics that have compostable elements can also do more than just break down – they can biodegrade into soil conditioning material (aka compost), which is nutrient-rich and contains no harmful residues.
how long does it take for biodegradable plastic to decompose?
Biodegradable plastics can take three to six months to decompose fully, depending on what they are made from. This is much quicker than plastic, which can take several hundred years to biodegrade into microplastics.
Exactly how long a biodegradable plastic takes to break down depends on multiple factors, such as temperature, amount of moisture present, and the materials used to make it.
However, certain Lomi-approved biodegradable plastics can be broken down in just a few hours using Lomi! Here’s a full list of Lomi approved packaging and products it can break down.
Additionally, here are some bioplastics making waves in the industry for their innovation.
so is biodegradable plastic sustainable?
Yes, biodegradable plastic is sustainable if it has these qualities:
- Is compostable (backyard or industrial)
- You have access to a recovery system (aka, an area to compost it in, like access to industrial compost facilities)
- It’s not just single-use (but rather used to make durable items that will get reused). The few exceptions to this include compostable food scrap bags and compostable Band-Aids, like Patch (for sanitary reasons).
If these conditions are met, biodegradable plastic can be an innovative solution to consider.
What are your thoughts on biodegradable plastic? Let me know in the comments!
The post What is Biodegradable Plastic? Is It Sustainable? appeared first on Going Zero Waste.