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? Defining the term Bioegradable
Posted on November 13, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsAs much as the USA FTC get criticised on their definitions and requirements for using the word biodegradable, they do have some good points and it would make discussions a lot more meaningful if people followed these points. If people are not following these points then it leads people to think they are trying to hide facts about their product. A good sales company would be proud of their products and state what their product can and cannot do, rather than just give an innocuous phrase of yes we supply biodegradable plastics.
1) If a claim of this plastic is biodegradable, then it should say where is it biodegradable? In a landfill or in a compost facility, or is the claim made hoping it is biodegradable and by saying that others will believe it too.
2) Approximately how long would it take to biodegrade in its preferred environment? 1 yrs, 5 yrs, 10 yrs, 100’s of years.
Following those simple 2 steps will make all the discussions simpler.
If you are a buyer seeking biodegradable products, then you need to decide where you want the products to biodegrade. No point in buying a compostable plastic if they are not going to a compost pile or it is planned to be recycled. Similarly no point in buying a oxo plastic if they are going to go to a landfill or it is planned to be recycled.
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