Environmental conservation is arguably the single greatest challenge facing humanity today. With concerning inactivity from governments the responsibility falls upon us as individuals and consumers to make environmentally responsible decisions.
There is a lot of of jargon being thrown out by both eco warriors and savvy operators alike. Everyone wants to do their bit but it can be difficult to separate the fact from the hype. Here at Johnson Hospitality we want to provide you with information so that you can make an informed decision.
This article is going to address the plastics debate. As social campaigns have successfully targeted plastic bags and reducing plastic waste as a whole, we have seen the rise of bioplastics, which aim to have the convenience of traditional plastics without the environmental effects.
Let us break it down for you like a suitable biopolymer in appropriate conditions
But First, Some Definitions…
Degradable Vs Biodegradable Vs Compostable
Degradable just means that the material breaks down over time. It does not imply the level to which it breaks down over what time frame. Uranium is degradable, Uluru is degradable. If a product is labelled degradable that doesn’t mean its good for the environment.
Biodegradable means that a product can be broken down into biomass by bacteria, enzymes or living organisms. Biomass consists of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Biodegradable material will only break down in the right conditions (usually damp and warm) conditions in an undefined time period. Biodegradable is a term that gets thrown around too loosely by smooth talkers. An item that is biodegradable in a compost heap will not necessarily break down in the ocean, so it’s not the environmental gold star people make it out to be.
Compostable products will biodegrade within a compost cycle. The main difference between compostable and biodegradable materials are time. Like biodegradable, these compostable products should be disposed of in a suitable composting environment.
What’s so bad about plastic?
The most common plastics used are oil based, meaning they come from the same finite resources as the petrol that fuels your car. They are not biodegradable and are responsible for the vast majority of landfill waste across the globe. Not to mention this they damage and pollute ecosystems, with a report published last year predicting plastic in our oceans to outweigh fish by 2050.
What is PLA?
PLA (Polylactic acid) is a plant based plastic which holds many of the same physical properties of commonly used oil based plastics. PLA is made from starch, usually from specially bred corn crops, meaning it is a renewable resource unlike oil based plastics.
Oil based Vs Plant Based – Production
Oil based plastics are derived from crude oil. The oil is refined to fractions, with one fraction in particular Naphtha, involved in the plastic production process. From there it undergoes processes of polymerisation and polycondensation as different chemicals and elements are added to it to give the particular plastic its desired qualities. These can include heavy elements and compounds such as phtalates.
For PLA, corn or other raw materials are fermented to produce lactic acid, which is then polymerized to make polylactic acid. Bioplastics are expected to make major contributions to environmental protection, because they reduce CO2 and because they are biodegradable.
PLA plastics also have their criticisms, people argue that the crops used to make the PLA are replacing food crops when people are going without. There are also concerns of people genetically modifying crops to make them more suitable for PLA production. (But that’s another debate for another time)
Oil Based Vs Plant Based – Use
As it currently stands, PLA can do nearly everything that oil based packaging can do except handle hot food. With relatively similar tensile strength and weight, it is suitable for many applications in the food and drink packaging industry.
However PLA plastic is also not as heat resistant as oil based plastics (safe up to 45 degrees celcius), meaning that it is more suitable for cold food. It is freezer safe not microwave safe.
CPLA is a copolymer PLA and withstands higher temperatures (around 82 degrees Celcius), thus more suitable for products exposed to high heats, yet is still biodegradable and compostable.
Oil Based Vs Plant Based – Disposal
The same additives and properties that make oil base plastics so useful are the same that make them so nightmarish after their use. Less than 25% of the plastic that can be recycled is done so, the rest ending up in landfills or polluting the environment. From there it can take up to 1000 years to break down, sometimes never at all.
When it breaks down it simply breaks into smaller pieces of the same plastic, never being able to recombine to the ecosystems it is in. These tiny pieces of debris infiltrate all levels of the food chain, toxic additives and all, and plastic pollution has been found to be effecting the health of a number of marine species, including species that are consumed by humans.
That being said, some companies are starting to add enzymes to their oil based plastics with the aim of making them biodegrade in a similar fashion to bioplastics.
PLA bioplastic is completely stable in l
andfill. When thinking about environmental impact, it’s important to recognise that the true eco-advantage starts at the beginning, and by design bioplastic results in 75% less greenhouse gases than oil-based PET or PS plastic – even if both end up in a landfill. PLA is capable of biodegrading fully in 3 – 6 months in a suitable composting systems. Without access to lig
ht or oxygen PLA may take as long as 1000 years to break down, making it comparable to oil based plastics.
The Ocean is not a suitable composting system. A 2012 study by California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery that after a year in ocean conditions only 8% of the PLA sample had degraded compared to the 6% of the LDPE sample. However there is a crucial difference, the same study found that PLA did not contain any hazardous byproducts, nor did they release any toxic chemicals into the surrounding water. This means it will have less of an effect on marine ecosystems than its oil based counterpart.
Summary
Nothing in this world is perfect, and to state the PLA had no environmental cost would be an outright lie. Anyone that promises you that every PLA product you buy will be fully biodegraded in 6 months either doesn’t know what they’re talking about or is selling a fairytale.
It is the lesser of two evils, and as demand for it increases, production will increase, so to the demand for appropriate commercial composting facilities and more opportunity to capitalise on their potential environmental benefits.
It does cost a bit more than its oil based counterparts, making it a personal decision. Would you rather make an environmentally motivated choice or a financially motivated one?
We do have a range of PLA straws and containers available.
If you would like to learn more about making the switch to PLA or to discuss more environmentally friendly options please contact your rep or call us on 9052 9111.