Today I bought chocolate. The packaging says that the plastic rots. Why isn’t this kind used for everything?
In: Chemistry
Biodegradable plastic is usually made from a plant base. So, it takes a different type of energy and industrial base to produce, and most factories are built to make oil-based plastic products. It is just a costlier investment upfront to switch or build factories that make biodegradable plastics. Plus you gotta increase your crop production to farm enough plant product to make the biodegradable stuff.
There are other disadvantages – pesticides used on the plants can find their way in the end product, which is obviously not healthy for animal consumption. If it gets mixed in with traditional or bioplastics, it can make it difficult to recycle them or separate them so we can end up with more waste. It still produces methane while decomposing in landfills which is also harmful to the atmosphere just like carbon dioxide is. It isn’t always going to break down easily in the ocean, so it’s not a guaranteed way to solve plastic pollution there.
Might still be better than traditional plastic, but it’s ultimately best to just get rid of plastics as much as possible to begin with.
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