How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter? 
“Biodegradable” plastic label may be misleading
Posted on May 30, 2023 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste News
A widely used compostable plastic has been found to persist unchanged in marine environments for at least 14 months, according to a study.
Source: “Biodegradable” plastic label may be misleading
The researchers submerged samples of PLA, along with samples of oil-based materials, cellulose-based materials and a blend of cellulose-based and oil-based materials, in cages in the coastal waters off La Jolla, California. Samples were examined weekly for evidence of disintegration and returned to the ocean after a few hours.
The cellulose-based material degraded quickly, in less than one month. Laboratory chemical analysis confirmed that the cellulose had been largely broken down by biological processes through CO2 production, not simple mechanical wear. Neither the oil-based plastic, the blend nor the PLA showed signs of degradation throughout the 14 months of the experiment.
“Our results indicate that composability does not imply environmental degradation,” Royer said. “Referring to compostable plastics as biodegradable plastics is misleading as it may convey the perception of a material that degrades in the environment. PLA-based plastics must be composted in appropriately controlled facilities in order to achieve their potential as compostable substitutes for oil-based plastics.”
According to the authors, the research shows the need for standardising tests to see if materials promoted as compostable or biodegradable, such as PLA, actually do biodegrade in a natural environment.
No news here, biodegradation requires bio activity and if there are no suitable microbes around the plastic won’t get eaten.
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