Awareness of the detrimental impact plastics have on our environment has exploded in recent years. With a single plastic bottle taking an estimated 450 years to break down, bringing with it pollution, endangered marine wildlife and compromised ecosystems, it’s crystal clear why. 

Biodegradable plastics have been touted as the next quick fix for our plastic problem, offering consumers a supposedly guilt-free alternative to the long-lasting, petroleum-based prototype. 

But are biodegradable plastics really turning the tide on plastic pollution or simply filling landfills to the brim with false hope?

In this month’s blog, we take a closer look.

What are biodegradable plastics?

Biodegradable plastics have been marketed as an environmentally conscious alternative to conventional plastics. They have the ability to break down through natural processes. Some can be composted (but not all), others can degrade through exposure to light, heat, microbes & oxygen.

They tend to be made from renewable raw materials or plant products such as corn starch, orange peels and sugar cane.

Due to their genetic makeup, biodegradable plastics can break down faster than their petroleum-based counterparts. For example, a biodegradable plastic bag can take 3-6 months to break down under the right conditions, while conventional plastic bags take a whopping 20 years.

But here’s the catch: just because it can biodegrade doesn’t mean it’s happening. 

 

The good, the bad, the ugly

How quickly a biodegradable plastic product breaks down – and indeed, if it does at all – wholly depends on the conditions it’s exposed to during disposal. These include temperature, light, duration, the presence of microorganisms, nutrients, moisture & oxygen.

In a landfill site waste is entombed. Light and oxygen can barely break the surface of garbage mountains, let alone seep through the tightly jammed cracks to decompose a plastic product. 

And the same can be said for the products that stray into our oceans. The likes of biodegradable plastic bags will only break down in temperatures of 50C – and that’s far from the status-quo in the depths of our seas. They’re also not buoyant, meaning they can’t break down through UV exposure.

Finding the right conditions for the material to break down is a tightrope to walk.

 

Deceptive, or disrupting the status quo?

Just because a product is made from a plant doesn’t mean it’s going to break down like a plant, and being biodegradable doesn’t mean it will break down in your food compost bin. 

In reality, those that can be composted need industrial infrastructure that’s in short supply here in the UK. There are a mere 18 sites across the country, and they only accept waste that’s guaranteed not to be contaminated by conventional plastic products.

Consumers are often left guessing what they can and can’t do with biodegradable products. The products are often recycled, but in reality, the only bin they should end up in is the general waste. Recycling the products with standard plastics can make the recycling batch less durable. 

As a result, this supposedly environmentally conscious alternative is piling high in landfills and making the voyage to our oceans, hardly ever striking the perfect balance of conditions that allow it to decompose. 

While they may sound good in theory, they’re often still a single-use product set to follow the same fate as conventional plastics. 

 

The bottom line

The best type of plastics are the ones that aren’t produced. We can’t recycle our way out of our plastic problem, and that also holds for those that are designed to biodegrade.

The most effective solution is avoiding single-use plastics altogether, no matter what material they’re made from.