Photo Credit: Recycle for Greater Manchester
Though more and more people are staying away from plastic bags, biodegradable bags may not be much better.
Since regular plastic bags tend to break down after being used once since they are so light, it has been suggested that people switch over to biodegradable bags because they would break down faster than normal plastic. The goal, ultimately, is to stop plastic pollution, which is rampant around the world. The hope is that materials will be broken down quicker and be beneficial to microbes. Microbes can feed on it, which breaks down big molecules.
But, regular plastic bags are made from oil, which does not digest well. Some of the biodegradable plastics are now made from materials that microbes can digest, as well as use heat and water to break them down.
A study was performed in England to test the effectiveness of biodegradable plastic. They placed the bags in different kinds of environments and checked back a few years later to see what happened. The bags that were placed in soil and seawater did not break down much. The bags that were identified as “compostable” disappeared completely.
Bags that were left in the open air did break down into tiny pieces, but did not completely disappear. All it did was break the plastic bags down into smaller pieces; the material remained. Ultimately, this could be good because the pieces are smaller and may help with the digestion process. These little pieces can still be a danger to the environment, however.
What’s the answer than? Don’t litter first and foremost. But, you should also be reducing the number of plastic bags that you use, and you should be reusing the ones that you have. We are really hurting the environment by being lazy and not reusing products.
