Never before has it been so important to talk about
a lifestyle respectful of the environment. More than ever, a growing number of people are becoming aware of
their waste production and trying to
adopt more mindful consumption choices. Even institutions are moving in this direction, aware of how urgent it is to address the current environmental emergency on multiple fronts. For example, the European Parliament has stated it will forbid the use of many single-use plastic products by 2021. Many are already wondering what will replace single-use plastic cutlery, straws, and cotton swabs. This is where next-generation materials such as
bioplastics and
compostable plastics come into the picture. There are already many types (mostly derived from vegetable materials) that are labeled either biodegradable or compostable. But
are they really more ecofriendly than classic plastic?
If our goal is to
tend to a more sustainable lifestyle, we must do some reflection first.
First of all, we must
consider the decomposition process. From this angle, the “greenest” among the aforesaid materials are compostable ones (like Mater-Bi, P.L.A. and P.H.A.) because they degrade in less than 3 months and return to the soil in the form of fertilizer. The next best are plastics that are biodegradable (but not compostable) that can degrade to 90% within 6 months. In this sense, next-generation materials surely are more eco-friendly than traditional plastic, which can take up to 1000 years to decompose and releases many microplastics into the environment during fragmentation. Moreover, plastic coming from oil has a high carbon footprint: a parameter used to measure the greenhouse gas emissions of a material, object, or person. The carbon footprint of oil-based plastics is much greater than bioplastics due to the large amount of energy needed to produce them, significantly higher than that needed for vegetable-based ones like P.L.A. (Pathak, 2014).
Secondly, we must
consider the production processes of the materials themselves. If coming from food waste or other production chains, bioplastics can turn out to be very sustainable, of course. Unfortunately, however, they often come from corn or sugarcane crops (Somleva, 2013). In this case, taking account of all the resources used (water, energy, soil) and all the damage caused to the environment by pesticides and fertilizers used to grow crops efficiently,
we can conclude that, in truth, bioplastics definitely have a bad impact on our planet. For example, to produce 25 1.5-liter bottles of P.L.A., we’d need 2,250 liters of water – due to corn irrigation and production – compared to the 17.5 liters of water needed to make the same volume and number of bottles of Pet, or “fossil” plastic (Spezzacatena, 2019).
And in the case of sugarcane, the outcome would be even worse, considering that it’s typically grown in tropical areas and would require soil from precious forests already shrinking every day.
So,
the prefix “bio” is not necessarily synonymous with higher sustainability, and in fact, a recent study demonstrates how some
bioplastics, obviously
biodegradable, in some environmental conditions (chemical, temperature, etc.) actually behave very similarly to plastics coming from oil (Harding, 2017)
.
For example,
to degrade completely, plastic that is defined as biodegradable requires chemico-physical conditions that hardly ever happen in seawater where much of our trash ends up. Therefore, the use of biodegradable plastic (non-compostable) doesn’t reduce the problem of plastic in our oceans that is currently harming marine ecosystems. Even worse, these plastics, just like traditional ones, undergo fragmentation by UVA rays, oxidation and other external agents that generate harmful
microplastics (Kershaw, 2015).
If we want to acquire a lifestyle that is more respectful towards the environment and ourselves, first of all, we must say farewell to single-use.
We shouldn’t
replace single-use cutlery, plates, or straws with something more sustainable if it’s still going to be single-use and, therefore, impact our Planet.
To be truly green, we must learn to say “NO to single-use,” not because of the plastic ban, but so we can say loud and clear to the system to quit using water, energy, soil and emitting greenhouse gases only to produce objects with incredibly short lives. Let’s learn to do without and find reusable alternatives instead.
By Giulio Ferrante
Bibliography
- K. G. Harding, T. Gounden, S. Pretorius. “Biodegradable plastics: a myth of marketing?”. Procedia manufacturing, science direct. 2017
- Maria N. Somleva, Oliver P. Peoples and Kristi D. Snell. PHA Bioplastics, Biochemicals, and Energy from Crops (Plant Biotechnology journal 2013). Metabolix Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Peter John Kershaw. UNEP (2015) Biodegradable Plastics and Marine Litter. Misconceptions, concerns and impacts on marine environments. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Nairobi.
- Swati Pathak, CLR Sneha, Blessy Baby Mathew. Bioplastics: Its Timeline Based Scenario & Challenges. Journal of Polymer and Biopolymer Physics Chemistry, 2014, Vol. 2, No. 4, 84-90
- Tommaso Spezzacatena (2019); Il lato oscuro delle bioplastiche. Impactschool magazine.
