Bioplastics and biodegradable packaging

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

A more sustainable solution? Maybe and then again maybe not.

Plastic packaging is all over the media at the moment and that in an incredibly negative light. Consumers have growing concerns about how plastic packaging is managed at end of life, and are worried about leakage into the ocean. This has brought in a focus on what can be done about plastic waste.

The most obvious option is to reduce the amount of plastic packaging, but simply from a cost point of view this has already been on the agenda for brands and retailers for many years. What we are mostly left with now is packaging that has been carefully designed for its function - but not always with end of life considerations.

So, what is the solution? Most logically, several steps must be taken:

1. Reduction of amount of packaging where possible;

2. Rationalization of polymer types used in packaging to simplify the sorting and recycling process;

3. Design packaging with understanding of how it will be handled at end of life;

4. More recycling infrastructure, funded and ultimately subsidized through Extended

Producer Responsibility schemes; and

5. Consumer engagement to ensure as much packaging as possible is captured for recycling

What could the role of bioplastics and biodegradable packaging be in all of this? Should we completely switch all packaging so that it is made from “bioplastics” and which is “biodegradable” so that it will disappear once disposed of and will be made from renewable resources?

The short answer to this is “no”. Bioplastics will certainly have a part to play in the future and in some instances today, but we need to make sure the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of such materials is more beneficial than oil based plastics. Oil is not going away anytime soon, and while we are still refining huge quantities for fuel, should we not make use of the plastic that can be produced from its by-products?

As for biodegradable packaging, this is a minefield of confusing messages and lack of transparency. Packaging that will readily degrade in a home composting system, or in the ocean, is great in theory, but ensuring it can do that and deliver product protection is not easy. Many food products need protection from oxygen and moisture, and material that easily breaks down cannot always achieve this. There is a balance to be found to produce polymers that will maintain integrity during product lifetime (which many include many months in warehouses or on shelves) but will readily degrade once the packaging is no longer needed.

Then you come to packaging that is compostable, but only in an industrial composting facility. This then brings same challenges as any other material that is collected for recycling, if not more, because the consumer now must understand a whole new category of packaging which needs its own special disposal route. For example, imagine the confusion if some drinks bottles needed to go in the regular plastic recycling bin while others went in the composting collection. In some closed, controlled systems this may work, but we must be mindful of how material is handled at end of life.

So in some instances a biopolymer or biodegradable pack may have a more positive environmental impact, but very careful consideration is needed before using these materials. It should not be assumed that just because “bio” is in the name, it is better for the planet.

Plastics are wonderful materials, which when used correctly can have massive positive impacts on our lives. There is no better time than now to think hard about the various options, whether that be designing for end of life, improving recycling infrastructure, or replacing current materials with biodegradable or compostable ones. The answer is not always straightforward.

The problem is that many so-called “bioplastics” are not as readily biodegradable and especially not compostable as they are claimed to be. In a marine environment they will not degrade and compost but simply break down, just as “ordinary” plastic packaging material, into microplastic particles which end up in marine life and the food chain.

As said above plastic can be very useful indeed and there is, if I may put it like that, good and bad plastic. There the the (good) products that we can use for many, many decades and which are made of a single kind of plastic that can, at the end of the product's life, be recycled – in theory at least, whether it happens is another story – and then there are the bad plastic products, which include many of the packaging materials that are either non-recyclable or very hard to recycle because, often, they are made of more than one plastic and often, in the case of foils, several different plastics laminated together.

The Tupperware box, the reusable plastic water bottle, such as De Dopper, and the reusable plastic coffee cup, such as KeepCup, are actually your friend, and the Planet's friend, and not the enemy, as are many other kinds of plastics. Not all plastic is bad. It all depends on the type and the use. The current hype about plastic being bad is totally out of context. The problem is what we do with the plastic and the real culprit is us and the single-use plastic products.

It would be better if we would, to some extent, go back to (more) natural materials but for many applications there simply is not another option.

© 2018

'Biodegradable' plastics are not at all great for the environment

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The UN has stated that 'biodegradable' plastics are not so great for the oceans but the truth be told they are not so great anywhere actually, just a feel-good sop to our consciences.

Biodegradable plastic sounds like a wonderful idea when you first hear about it but the truth is a different one to be honest.

Most plastics are notorious for how long they stick around in the environment and how hard it is to break them down naturally, so to think that all those bits of plastics that end up scattered to the four winds could just melt away harmlessly sounds almost too good to be true. And well, once you read the fine print, it kind of is. The same also goes for “compostable” plastics. 

A new report by the United Nations looks at these so-called biodegradable plastics and their impact on oceans, and compared to the theory, reality is a lot less rosy. The biodegradable plastics rarely actually degrade because they require long-term exposure to high-temperatures (around 122F, or 50C), like those found in large municipal composters, to actually break-down. Those conditions are not found very often in nature, and especially not in the oceans.

To add insult to injury, once those biodegradable plastics are in the oceans, the water reduces UV and oxygen exposure, so they degrade even slower than they would otherwise... Basically, biodegradable label or not, those plastics will be there for a very long time. And even when they do break down, after years, the small pieces still pose a threat and just add to the existing microplastics problem that we've written about in the past.

On top of all this, biodegradable plastics are less recyclable than regular plastics, and they can contaminate the feed of recycling plants:

"If you're recycling plastic you don't want to have anything to do with biodegradable plastics," says Peter Kershaw, one of the authors of the UNEP study. "Because if you mix biodegradable with standard plastics you can compromise the properties of the original plastic."

So unless we can somehow make biodegradable plastics that actually degrade under regular conditions fairly rapidly without causing problems, and that can also be easily recycled, or at least kept out of recycling plants, maybe these aren't the best idea. It might make people feel good when they see the label, but if they don't work as intended, then it's just greenwashing.

But it is not only in the oceans that the so-called biodegradable plastic is causing havoc. It is no different in the environment on land and the fact remains that even plastic that is made from plant polymers still remains plastic and plastic just is and will remain a problem. With the additional problem mentioned above that that biodegradable plastic and the plant based plastic cannot be recycled together with ordinary plastic and in some cases cannot be recycled at all.

Thus we are being sold a dud, as they say, as regards to compostability and biodegradability of much of those plastic products made from those kind of polymers which brings us back to the issue of plastic per se and that we should simply – if and where possible – avoid the stuff, with some exception, and some products.

© 2015

Das Kompost-Komplot

Die Industrie feiert biologisch abbaubare Kunststoffe als Mittel gegen Plastikmüll. Die Realität ist eine ganz andere

Falsches steht da nicht direkt. Es ist der Kreislauf der Elemente, den der Verbund kompostierbarer Produkte e.V. auf seiner Internetseite zeigt. Es geht um Erde, Humus, Wasser, Luft. Grüne Ranken und Biotonnen sind zu sehen, und Nährstoffe beschrieben, die der Dung an die Natur zurückgibt. Einzig überraschend ist, wer dahinter steht: Die Verbundsmitglieder sind alle aus der Plastikbranche. Chemieunternehmen wie BASF, die Granulat herstellen, Folienfabrikanten, die daraus Tüten gießen oder Gefrierbeutel machen. Das Bild, das sie und zunehmend andere Unternehmen zeichnen, ist verlockend: Plastik könne grün sein. Nutzbar ohne schlechtes Gewissen, weil es verrottet wie altes Laub.

Plastik ist nicht wegzudenken aus unserem Alltag. Wenn das Leben immer schneller wird und Wegwerfen praktischer als Wiederverwerten, gehören Einkaufstüten, Partybesteck und To-go-Verpackungen meist dazu. Ohne Einwegprodukte müssten wir die Geschwindigkeit drosseln und eingespieltes Verhalten ändern, ohne Folienverpackung den gesamten Konsum umstellen. Plastik kann auch Ressourcen sparen: Es ist ein robustes, leichtes Material, das lange lebt und sich spritsparend transportieren lässt. Doch es ist verpönt, spätestens seit Greenpeace es kilogrammweise aus den Mägen toter Meerestiere holt und Forscher an den Stränden der Erde kaum noch Sand finden, in dem keine Partikel davon sind – eben weil es so lange hält.

Bio-Plastik ist da wie eine Verheißung. Bio klingt nach Natur und das beschert den Herstellern Erfolg. Rund 604 000 Tonnen bioabbaubaren Kunststoff produzierte die Branche weltweit nach eigenen Angaben im Jahr 2012. Für Tüten, für Joghurtbecher, Kaffeekapseln, Computertastaturen, Turnschuhe oder Plastikflaschen. Fußballvereine wie Bayern München oder der VfL Wolfsburg schenken als CSR-Maßnahme in ihren Stadien Getränke hinein. Aldi und Rewe ließen ihre Kunden die Einkäufe darin einpacken. „100 Prozent kompostierbar“ oder „Zeig der Umwelt ein Lächeln“ schrieben sie auf die Tüten und verlangten 39 Cent dafür. Viel erhofft sich die Branche auch von den Folienbeuteln für Bioabfälle, einem ganz neuen Absatzmarkt.

Passend dazu schreibt der Verbund kompostierbarer Produkte auf seiner Internetseite: „Alles wie immer – nur besser.“ Niemand muss etwas ändern, sogar Produktionsmaschinen und -abläufe können gleich bleiben, es entstehen einfach nur keine unangenehmen Folgen. Zu erkennen für den Verbraucher sind die Produkte an einem aufgedruckten grünen Keimling, dem in Deutschland am weitesten verbreiteten Siegel für Kompostierbarkeit. Für die nächsten fünf Jahre erwartet die Branche ein Wachstum von 60 Prozent. Der Haken: In der Realität wird hierzulande aus Plastik kein Kompost. Oder, wie Hans Demanowski, Professor für Verpackungstechnik an der Beuth Hochschule für Technik in Berlin, drastisch sagt: „Kompostierbares Plastik ist in den meisten Fällen kompletter Blödsinn.“ Woher solle ein Joghurtbecher wissen, ob er im Supermarkt steht oder auf dem Kompost liegt und ab wann er zerfallen darf? „Das ist reine Werbung.“ Zumindest ist es nicht so einfach, wie für den Verbraucher dargestellt.

Weiter lesen/read more: https://enorm-magazin.de/das-kompost-komplott