16 min
Bioplastics - can they solve our waste problem? Trains of Thoughts
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- Society & Culture
We have a huge problem. Plastics are littering the environment and they survive here over thousands of years. Companies therefore started to produce plastics that should biodegrade. Therefore, solutions are already existing. But is that really the case? Tests have revealed that even biodegradable plastics do not always dissolve into the environment and can survive years. Corresponding labeling of such bioplastics seems to be misleading. Are we suffering again a severe setback on our way out of our environmental crisis? No – provided that we draw the right conclusions and take the necessary next steps. And the first are taking a closer look – not only on biodegradability.
Find the transcript of this episode here: https://trainsofthoughtspod.com/e/06-bioplastics-can-they-solve-our-waste-problem/
Interesting articles and main sources:
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, McKinsey & Company, World Economic Forum, “The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics”, 2016, https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/The-New-Plastics-Economy-Rethinking-the-Future-of-Plastics.pdf
European Bioplastics, https://www.european-bioplastics.org/bioplastics/, accessed: 2021-06-20.
ETH Zürich, P. Rüegg, “Soil bugs munch on plastics”, https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2018/07/soil-bugs-munch-on-plastic-films.html, accessed 2021-06-20, based on: M.T. Zumstein et al., “Biodegradation of synthetic polymers in soils: Tracking carbon into CO2 and microbial biomass”, Science Advances, Vol. 4, no. 7, 2018, https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/7/eaas9024.
I. E. Napper, R. C. Thompson, “Environmental Deterioration of Biodegradable, Oxo-biodegradable, Compostable, and Conventional Plastic Carrier Bags in the Sea, Soil,and Open-Air Over a 3‑Year Period”, Environmental Science & Technology, 53, 9, 2019, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b06984.
University of Plymouth, “Biodegradable bags can hold a full load of shopping three years after being discarded in the environment”, 2019, https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/news/biodegradable-bags-can-hold-a-full-load-of-shopping-three-years-after-being-discarded-in-the-environment, accessed: 2021-06-20.
We have a huge problem. Plastics are littering the environment and they survive here over thousands of years. Companies therefore started to produce plastics that should biodegrade. Therefore, solutions are already existing. But is that really the case? Tests have revealed that even biodegradable plastics do not always dissolve into the environment and can survive years. Corresponding labeling of such bioplastics seems to be misleading. Are we suffering again a severe setback on our way out of our environmental crisis? No – provided that we draw the right conclusions and take the necessary next steps. And the first are taking a closer look – not only on biodegradability.
Find the transcript of this episode here: https://trainsofthoughtspod.com/e/06-bioplastics-can-they-solve-our-waste-problem/
Interesting articles and main sources:
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, McKinsey & Company, World Economic Forum, “The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics”, 2016, https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/The-New-Plastics-Economy-Rethinking-the-Future-of-Plastics.pdf
European Bioplastics, https://www.european-bioplastics.org/bioplastics/, accessed: 2021-06-20.
ETH Zürich, P. Rüegg, “Soil bugs munch on plastics”, https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2018/07/soil-bugs-munch-on-plastic-films.html, accessed 2021-06-20, based on: M.T. Zumstein et al., “Biodegradation of synthetic polymers in soils: Tracking carbon into CO2 and microbial biomass”, Science Advances, Vol. 4, no. 7, 2018, https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/7/eaas9024.
I. E. Napper, R. C. Thompson, “Environmental Deterioration of Biodegradable, Oxo-biodegradable, Compostable, and Conventional Plastic Carrier Bags in the Sea, Soil,and Open-Air Over a 3‑Year Period”, Environmental Science & Technology, 53, 9, 2019, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b06984.
University of Plymouth, “Biodegradable bags can hold a full load of shopping three years after being discarded in the environment”, 2019, https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/news/biodegradable-bags-can-hold-a-full-load-of-shopping-three-years-after-being-discarded-in-the-environment, accessed: 2021-06-20.
16 min