.:: Comparison ::.
Few Advantages over starch-based Plastics:
Oxo-biodegradable plastics:
• Will biodegrade and can be composted but do not need to buried in a compost heap or landfill in order to degrade. This is an important factor in relation to litter, because a large amount of plastic waste on land and at sea cannot be collected and buried.
• Can be used for direct food contact, but will degrade as well or better.
• Will completely degrade even in the absence of microbial activity. Governments are discouraging disposal of organic material to landfill, so there will be fewer bacteria in landfill pits upon which the starch-based plastics rely in order to degrade.
• Are much cheaper to produce
• Are thinner and use less material to produce
• Require less energy to manufacture and transport
• Do not leak, and are therefore suitable for wet waste
• Can be made transparent
• Leave no residual plastic particles
• No danger of genetically-modified ingredients
• Oxo Bio Degradable Plastics is recyclable, before the degradation process initiates.
Starch-based plastics?
Starch-based biodegradable plastics are not much use in the fight against litter as they need to be in a microbial environment such as a landfill or compost heap in order to degrade.
Comparison with PAPER?
• Paper is more expensive and uses more energy it requires to produce
• It is already one of the principal forms of litter
• For many uses, paper bags are not an alternative to plastic bags. They are not durable, especially when wet, they are not re-usable, and paper degrades less readily than oxo-biodegradable plastic
• Many people, especially those on low incomes living alone, use carrier bags for the disposal of their wet kitchen waste. Paper bags are not suitable for this purpose.
Bags for Life
Re-usable shopping bags are not the answer either, because:
• Those bags themselves when discarded become a very durable form of litter
Because plastic re-usable bags are made from much heavier plastic the total tonnage of plastic discharged into the environment may even be increased, contrary to the principle of waste minimalisation
• The bags are much heavier and more expensive, and a large number of them would be required to accommodate the weekly shopping for an average family
The bags are not hygienic if re-used without being cleansed
• In any event shoppers do not always go to the shop from home - where the re-usable bags would normally be kept
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