‘Biodegradable’ Plastics Are A Big Fat Lie

[silvershadow]

‘Biodegradable’ Plastics Are A Big Fat Lie

A new U.N. report says the supposed greener technology is anything but.

05/23/2016 11:24 pm ET

Chris D’Angelo
Associate Editor, HuffPost Hawaii

A prediction that the world’s oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050 is likely to intensify the push for sustainable, environmentally friendly alternatives.

Biodegradable plastics have long been touted as a “greener” technology, but a new report from the United Nations says these plastics do little, if anything, to actually protect the planet and marine creatures.

“Plastics marked as ‘biodegradable’ do not degrade rapidly in the ocean,” says the report, published Monday.

The 179-page report on plastic marine debris is one of several documents released in time for the United Nations Environment Assembly, which kicked off Monday in Nairobi, Kenya.

more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/un-biodegradable-plastics_us_57435cb2e4b045cc9a71afa5

[valerief]

1. I use compostable trash bags. I don't compost but I figure the compostable bags

will degrade quickly. Am I wrong?

http://biobagusa.com/products/retail-products/food-scrap-products-retail/

[silvershadow]

2. I'm not sure, but it does call it into question. I was hopeful we were onto something.

[cheapdate]

3. I think they will degrade fairly quickly in the soil but not in the ocean. You're good.

[valerief]

6. Thanks! I'm sure they get dumped into the land. nt

[NickB79]

7. Landfills are very anaerobic environments

Your bags will be buried deeply and denied access to oxygen and water to feed the bacteria that would eat them. In a compost pile, you constantly turn the mix to aerate and moisten it.

Even organic material like coffee grounds and newspaper can take years to break down in a landfill.

[passiveporcupine]

4. I wish more people were actually composting in their yards.

It's so easy to do and so good for lawns and gardens. I don't know why everyone doesn't do it. And if you can't do it outside, you can do worm composting and use the compost for potted plants. If you have pets with poop that is compostable, like rabbits, chickens, goats...and bigger livestock...you shouldn't waste that incredible fertilizer material..or even cut grass and leaves. Don't use chemicals, if you can use natural.

The only thing that goes in the trash for me is non-recyclables (way too many things as far as I'm concerned) and meat and bones and things that might attract predators. I even save my egg shells and grind them for calcium for my pets and gardens. I have a goat so most of my veggie trimmings go to her, but everything else (coffee grounds included) goes to the compost pile.

My raised-bed gardens are filled with nothing but compost from the goat barn. No soil...just compost that the plants love and break down quickly into rich humus soil.

I don't use chemicals for anything except to kill weeds in my gravel driveway and if I had a better, safer and more natural way to do that, I would.

[jtuck004]

5. So I got my order from ebay - little hydro shop that can send my Neptune's fertilizers

without leaking. Opened the box and the bottles are surrounded by styro peanuts - I thought. I had been looking for rice hulls, but I thought perhaps I could shred these and use them to lighten my planting mix.

Crumbled a few, they came apart easier than the old ones. Then I got them wet. They all but disappeared.

Packing peanuts need not be styrofoam any longer. I wonder what that residue was, though...