Do You Still Think BIODEGRADABLE Plastic Is Eco-friendly?

The use of disposables has been rapidly increased since COVID19 outbreak. Some consumers purchase ‘environmentally friendly’ products described as biodegradable or compostable in the belief that they are making a better choice for the environment. But, does our decision really bring the result as we wish and expect?

According to Jason Locklin, the director of New Materials Institute of the University of Georgia, expressions like ‘biodegradable’ or ‘compostable’ confuse not only customers but also experts in the fields, for such products may only be degraded under certain conditions and mess up with recycling stream.

Let’s take a few examples that are marketed as biodegradable. Can we really trust these products that are supposed to relieve customer’s guilt on the use of disposables?

 

1^st player

It is PLA(Poly Lactic Acid). PLA is made from ingredients mostly extracted from corn starch that it is one of the most well-known environmentally-friendly resins. It is converted into many types of food packaging such as water bottles, single-use utensils and plastic bags that require food contact safety and environmentally friendliness. While it does not seem so different from conventional plastic, the ingredients are from plant extract including corns, beets, cassava, sugar canes, and etc.

Naturally, PLA stresses its ‘compostability’ most, meaning a product not only degrades but also turns into fertilizer to supply nutrients to plants. Then, does a PLA product easily degrade under any circumstances? The answer is no. In order for the product to be biodegraded, it should be sent to an industrial composting facility. It might be degraded only when it is exposed to a controlled condition such as high temperature of over 58℃ and moisture and be mixed with other organic matters like food waste.

The problem here is that there are not many of these facilities around us. Considering the amount produced every day and the time it takes, it is far from sufficient. Composting PLA is theoretically possible, but not practical in reality. Moreover, most PLA products are made with other additives due to their vulnerability to heat. As a consequence, they cannot be properly treated at an industrial composting facility either. If they end up in landfills, they may remain there with other plastics for ages.

 

2^nd player

It is coated paper packaging. As replacing plastic straws with paper ones, a paper-based product has always been one of the best options as a plastic alternative. The paper container is made of wood pulp, a sustainable and renewable material that many global brands including Coca Cola, Carlsberg, and Absolute have been working on an application with paper container manufacturers.

So, if it is a paper-based product that has been around us much longer than plastic, you may think its biodegradability follows naturally. Unfortunately, however, it’s again wrong. It’s because of several layers of materials such as plastic or aluminum foils coated inside of a container. They are used to secure barrier properties so that the container does not soak from water or oil, but they make paper lose its biodegradability. In landfills, paper parts may be degraded by microbes, yet plastic films would remain intact.

Recycling is difficult, too. In theory, we could recycle plastic-coated products after separating and removing non-paper parts. However, it is much more inexpensive than buying a new product that most of the products are incinerated or sent to landfill. Experts insist that this must be resolved by strict regulations and policies to increase the recycling rate and to expand a market of recycled products.

 

3^rd player

<source: https://locations.chipotle.com >

It is molded pulp. Some restaurants such as Sweetgreen or Chipotle use pulp bowls and market their products to be completely compostable. Mostly, such products are made of Bagasse, byproducts produced from sugar cane plants. They are surely not made of plastic and look earth-like. However, these containers can only be degraded when they are collected in a specific bin in a restaurant or through an industrial composting system. After all, it is not much different from PLA products which need certain conditions to break down.

In addition, these companies had a big concern, for PFAS, known to be a carcinogen, was detected from their containers. It was found in food packaging from Burger King, McDonald’s, and Wendy. PFAS is used for a coating to prevent absorption of water and grease, but its harmful chemical tends to stay in the environment even after degradation that it had been a big issue. At the end of last year, the US FDA banned the use of some of the highly hazardous materials among PFAS group in food packaging and related brands have been looking for a perfect alternative that can satisfy the environment-friendly and safe properties at the same time.

 

4^th player

<source: https://jb.asm.org/content/187/11/3814>

It is PHA(Polyhydroxyalkanoates). PHA has been getting a lot of attention for its good biodegradability in recent years. The bioplastic made from bacteria has many fine properties. It is waterproof, highly resistant to ultraviolet rays, and toxic-free. Moreover, experts say that PHA products can easily be biodegraded in landfills, too. It is also reported that PHA products can be degraded within a few years in the ocean compared to conventional plastics taking about 450 years that it has been suggested as a promising solution for marine pollution.

However, the feature is causing another problem. It is too well compostable that it is difficult to secure the safety of the container and content during a distribution process. The excellent biodegradability has certainly won recognition, but PHA still has many issues to solve such as cost competitiveness and functions as food packaging.

 

Korean Standard and Certificate for Biodegradability

In Korea, there is an environment-friendly certificate in regard to a product’s biodegradability. It is EL724, an environment-friendly standard issued by the Ministry of Environment. In order to achieve the certificate, a product needs to reach over 90% of biodegradability within 6 months at 58±2℃. Yet, as we mentioned above, this condition is for an industrial composting facility. Moreover, there are no standards or ways to sort different contents and kinds of biomass consist of each bioplastic product that the Environment Ministry in fact recommends throwing these plastics out with other municipal waste. Finally, it is not easily distinguishable from regular plastic that it is treated as a foreign material at a recycling center.

 

Biodegradability, Attractive, but no specific standards or treatment

In fact, the word, biodegradable, can instill environmentally friendly awareness pretty directly. However, as we saw from the experiment with biodegradable plastic bags by researchers from Plymouth University in 2019, we need to get out of the ambiguity and a mirage delivered from the word ‘biodegradable’.

Above all, we should focus on finding a practical alternative that can be recycled or composted through the current municipal waste stream. Consumers should also face this rather uncomfortable truth and take more active action. 

The world is certainly moving forward to plastic-free and the market for environmentally friendly alternatives is going to expand. Mintel Group, a global market research institute, said that 34% of the consumers are willing to pay more for a water bottle that can be fully biodegradable. 

Yet, we should be careful not to fall for another type of greenwashing. There should be more researches and studies to find out alternatives’ functions and applicability to the current recycling and composting systems. rePAPER proved the compostability of RP-series based on a much higher and more stringent international standard in comparison with the other products marketed as biodegradable. The compostable certificate for home and garden issued by DIN CERTCO especially shows that rePAPER’s product has remarkable organic recyclability that they can return to harmless, fertile earth helping the cycle of the ecosystem, not at a special place but near us.

Now, what about the biodegradable product you are holding? Are they real?