Surely there’s something I’m not understanding in the concept of biodegradation.
In: Biology
“Decomposes in 3-6 months” is under appropriate conditions: warm, moist inside and out, and inoculated with suitable microbes.
But you’re not wrong in thinking that drinks containers are not ideal candidates for compostable containers: usually, the thing that keeps materials like paper from rotting away is that we can keep it dry; Coca-Cola is inherently wet.
Biodegradable materials means it will break down due to bacteria and the like.
Typically those are *anaerobic bacteria* which means they only exist somewhere there isn’t oxygen. Like deep underground in landfills. Oxygen is toxic to those bacteria and will kill them.
It won’t be able issue anywhere you would expect to find drinkable coke.
So it depends on which biodegradable plastic they are using. First is regular plastic particles held together with a biodegradable “glue” so all that you get is a lot of micro plastic fragments.
Second is corn based style plastics, the problem is they need exposure to sun, oxygen, soil bacteria and moisture to break down. In a landfill, none of those conditions occur, so it’s essentially the same as regular oil based plastic.
Third is there maybe issues with the pH of the soda and the bottles, if it begins to breakdown before a customer drinks it, is it safe enough or will it alter the taste?
I think that means if it was in the ground or earth. Biodegradable means it has the capability of being broken down by microorganisms and/or bacteria. Both of those would likely be very limited if at all present on a store shelf.
I would also guess that the bottles would be designed to decompose 3-6 months past the expiration date, giving an extra padding period for shelf life.
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