Biodegradable plastics or oxo-degradable pose more problems than they solve
Bioplastics is the name given to those plastics manufactured from natural polymers such as potato starch or corn. Although many, not all, of these plant-based plastics are biodegradable, the use of these bioplastics have, however, a number of serious problems :
The fact that they use vegetable-based plastic does not deny the fact that they also carry harmful additives whose impact on the environment is worrying, especially when often end up directly in the soil or water after degradation.
Common plastic recycling is already very complicated. If we want these bioplastics to be properly treated we should launch a specified network in order to collect and process them.
These disposable plastics, with a single use, consume large amounts of land and energy as well as natural resources.
Since they are expensive and are produced on a small scale, they are lately being replaced with oxo-degradable plastics.
Refuse single-use items and opt for reusable products
Oxo-degradable plastics are common plastics with a specific additive added, D2W, that enables them to degrade without any living being intervention. These plastics also present a number of problems. It is assumed that the waste generated is used by living organisms for their development and therefore is biodegradable, but today there are many doubts in this regard. Another issue we should face is the toxicity of their additives because they end directly in nature without being treated.
In short, the problem is not whether replacing petro-carbon with bio-carbon is better since biodegradable or oxo-degradable plastics create more problems than they might solve.
The only solution to this ecological catastrophe, represented by our current way of using plastic, is to refuse single-use items and opt for reusable products, in bulk or loosely packed.
