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? War of words: Is oxo-degradable a biodegradable plastic or not?
Posted on May 5, 2012 by DrRossH in Plastic Waste NewsWar of words: Is oxo-degradable a biodegradable plastic or not?.
A good example on how to spin a products good features but omit it’s short comings. Here are some as posted on Linked in by a fellow contributor;
“The additives that are proposed only result in quick oxo-fragmentation and is only leading to the formation of microplastics (more plastic soup) . Evidence of biodegradation is lacking and only semi-scientific proof is presented, but the formation of CO2 and Water according to EN 13432/ EN 14995 can not be demonstrated, which is the only proof of biodegradability. It makes people wrongly believe they can make plastics biodegradable by adding only a minute additive. In Belgium ( several years ago) and Italy( this year) it is forbidden by law to use these additives and other EU countries will soon follow. Moreover the European recycling industry EUPC is against using these additives as well. For a fact sheet refer to :
http://en.european-bioplastics.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/pp/Oxo_PositionsPaper.pdf “
From another linked in commenter
“Dr. Ramini Narayan, from Michigan State University at a Bio-resin conference in San Antonio several years ago, explained the danger of Oxy-degradables. Ross touched on many of the issues, but to elaborate on his comment about the plastic in the ocean….
According to Dr. Narayan, when plastic is made from petroleum (old carbon) and breaks down through the oxy-degradation process, the pieces break into smaller and smaller particles. These particles are oliophilic, attracting molecules of other oil based chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, attaching until they are the size of plankton, which fish then eat, affecting not only them, but everything farther up the food chain.
I think the bio-plastic market is complicated enough, but the oxy-degradables are very counter productive to what our sustainability goals really are. There needs to be MUCH more education for the general public. In my experience, consumers want to make responsible choices, but that begins with accurate and truthful information. The oxy story needs to be shown for the fairy tale it is. “
From PWS’ experience
This seems to be the consensus on oxo products.
1) They do not degrade in a landfill, little to no oxygen present. Even if they did what is the advantage of a plastic fragmenting into little pieces of plastic when buried in a landfill?
2) There is no evidence of ASTM proven biodegradation of an unheat treated oxo plastic. How could there be as it takes years to even fragment and if it were to biodegrade more years. ASTM tests can’t be run for that long at the accuracy required for those monthly miniscule changes if there were any.
3) A solution for litter? Definitely not. Out of site is not out of mind. It takes years to break down so are we meant to leave the litter in place for years? Even after it breaks down then it is 1000’s of little piece of litter blowing and washing into more places. Is that what we want to do to our environment? Do we want birds feeding little bits of plastic to their chicks to die of starvation? In the Pacific Gyre, there is more plankton sized pieces of plastic than there is plankton by a factor of about 6. Guess who ends up eating that?
4) Disposal. So how are people meant to dispose of a oxo plastic item. To trash (which goes to a landfill)? If so then why make it oxo to start with? Recycle it? No, the oxo additive will get into other plastic items and cause them problems. There is no indicator to a recycler there is an oxo additive in it and they can’t be expected to know there is. So it has to be kept out of the main stream recycling. Incineration? yes that is the best option for them. But if you are going to incinerate them, then again, what is the purpose of putting the oxo additive in them in the first place?
So irrespective of some cited reports that give some results under specialised non general conditions to prove a point, the practicality of oxodegradable plastics are just not there. Their only feature is they cause plastics loose in the environment, to degrade to little pieces of plastic and my opinion is, is that is worse for the environment, so oxo’s should not be allowed to be used at all.
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