Most of us are very familiar with the prefix “bio.” It often indicates a reference to living plants or creatures, and it connotes images of the earth, its many life forms, and perhaps a few scenes from Planet Earth or National Geographic images. But the prefix bio as it’s used in the marketing of new plastics–think: “bioplastics,” “biodegradable plastics,” etc.–is not the innovative, earth-friendly process it sounds like. This is yet another case of greenwashing in the plastics industry.
To businesses, the green aura given off by bioplastics is an advantage, helping to reconcile busy consumers to the polymers we use every day. In environmental terms, that’s precisely the problem: they risk absolving us of the need to carry out the basic work of reducing, reusing and recycling. Ultimately, that’s the only way that we’ll deal with our plastics addiction.
David Fickling, Bloomberg
A recent article from Bloomberg highlighted how biodegradable plastics may in fact do more harm than good. According to the article, some types of bio–or plant-based–plastics may release more carbon in degradation than their fossil fuel-derived counterparts. Moreover, the author notes how the degradation of plastic is an invisible process, which doesn’t quite evoke the same response as oceans and lands visibly littered with plastic. Without public knowledge of the drawbacks and consequences of plastics sent to indefinitely degrade in landfills (including the majority of innovative plant-based ones), the out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality will remain securely in place in our high-consumption society.
Emissions from plastic degradation — an invisible process taking place deep underground, and producing no emotive imagery of floating debris, tangled turtles or overflowing waste dumps — may be far more insidious. Bioplastics “are not permanent solutions because they still reaffirm the take-make-waste linear economy mindset,” said Alice Zhu, a researcher into plastic pollution at the University of Toronto.
David Fickling, Bloomberg
Again, the solution to the plastic problem is not to continue to produce more or different types of plastic, it’s to produce less. To cut off this stream of pollution at the source. To turn off the tap!
