Can Bio Plastics Solve the World’s Plastic Problem?

Bio Plastics are renewable alternatives to plastic produced from natural resources like oils, starch and what not!

They reduce the dependence of humans on fossil fuels and reduce the carbon footprint. With their remarkable properties and environmental friendly nature, they are increasingly being used in packaging and manufacturing industries.  However, we often tend to ignore the downside. Bioplastics are mostly single-use and it is difficult to decompose them.

What happens to these bioplastics when we dump them? Where do they go?

If not discarded in the right manner, bioplastics tend to mix up with recycling plastic harm recycling infrastructure. If they contain PET (polyethylene terephthalate), the entire lot of recycling waste could be rejected and end up in a landfill.

Moreover, experts believe that if this bio plastic waste ends up in landfills without as much oxygen as they require to break down, they can release methane, a major green-house gas and a contributor to global warming. Also, making bio plastics from plant-based sources can further lead to acute shortage of food.

According to UNEP, an estimated 75 to 199 million tonnes of plastic is currently found in our oceans. But bioplastics are not an answer to marine litter. This is because they are designed to decompose in soil, not in water or oceans.

Citations

https://e360.yale.edu/features/why-bioplastics-will-not-solve-the-worlds-plastics-problem

Some experts believe that the solution to plastic waste lies not on furthering the development of bio-plastics, but in strengthening the plastics recycling systems of the world.