Biodegradable plastics are relatively new to the consumer market. The reason biodegradable plastics have not been used in commercial applications is not because it's new technology (the technology has been around for a few years) but because of the additional cost involved in producing the materials.
It is only now, within the past year or so that people have realized that it's worthwhile incurring a little extra expense when it means helping to save our planet. What people don't realize is that not all so-called 'biodegradable plastics' are created equally. Some biodegradable plastics will biodegrade in a matter of weeks whereas others can be sitting around in landfills for years. It's important to recognize the different forms of biodegradable plastic since money spent on helping the earth shouldn't go towards plastic lying un-degraded in landfills.
There are three main types of biodegradable plastics:
- Ones made completely from vegetable matter
- Ones made from a blend of vegetable matter blended with conventional plastics
- Ones made from a degradable additive blended conventional plastics
Plastics made completely from vegetable matter are arguably the best for the environment and are the likely the future of packaging materials since they are made from plant starches from corn, tapioca, soy, etc. all renewable resources. These plastics, called PLA (polylactide) break down completely into carbon dioxide and water in roughly 60 days. PLA is broken down by microbes in the same way that leaves or other organic materials are. These plastics are often used for film to make bags such as some of the Biodegradable PLA bags made by us at Elmhirst Packaging Ltd.
Plastics made from a blend of vegetable starches and petroleum based plastics are fairly new in the world of biodegradable plastics. This has quickly become a very popular method of bio plastic production since blending starch with plastics such as HDPE and LDPE decreases the price of the bio plastic. The downside to this form of plastic is that it is not made of completely renewable resources and it often takes longer to biodegrade. These plastics have been used in all sorts of applications from biodegradable dog waste bags like Doodeefulls to injection molded plastic parts.
Plastics created from petroleum based plastics and a degradable additive are the most common form of "biodegradable" plastic out there since they are the least expensive to produce. Any standard plastic factory can be converted to produce bio plastic by simply putting an additive in with the raw plastic material. This additive is typically composed of heavy metals which oxidize and break up the petroleum based plastic. These types of plastic are often referred to as OXO degradable plastics. Products made with OXO plastics often claim to be biodegradable however the reason they are able to make this claim more often than not is because they have trademarked names with "biodegradable" in it and versions of it such as the commonly seen "OXO-Biodegradable". Some of these products just falsely claim to be biodegradable and claim it's because bacteria eventually can consume the plastic however the majority of the degradation is done through the oxidation of heavy metals and not through the natural method of microbial consumption. There are no universal standards for these plastics so their rate of decomposition is dependant on the amount of additive used. Although degradable/biodegradable plastics are better for the environment than non degradable ones, concern has been raised over possible health issues involved with prolonged exposure to the heavy metals in OXO plastics.
PLA plastics may be the most expensive biodegradable plastic out there but it's also the best for the environment. The decision is not only that of the consumers but also of the manufacturers so it's important that consumers who are very environmentally conscious request that materials such as PLA plastics be used to produce the products we use every day.
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