Less Harmful Plastics? Will The Marketplace Put Up With Biodegradable Plastic?

[Eclipse Now]

I wonder how strong and durable biodegradable plastic really is? EG: If it dissolves in water, it might be OK for holding dry chocolates. But dissolving in water rules it out for using as shopping bags carrying home cold goods with condensation all over them, it rules out using it for drinks and take away cups, and softdrink bottles, etc.

 

Do you think markets will just want 'real' plastic after all? The poor ocean's being drowned in plastics that break down into microplastic bits that seem to be changing the food chain! On the other hand, James Hansen has joined a group recommending the plasma arc burner, which of course shoots all hydrocarbons up the flue for the petrochemical industry. So that turns old lawn clippings, dirty nappies, old shoes, toothbrushes etc into syngas which can satisfy some *demand* for plastics, and even some feedstock for some liquid fuels.

 

But it does not necessarily change the *quality* of the plastics and make them biodegradable or safe for the oceans. Yet people LIKE strong plastics holding their ice cream.

 

I can't see a convenient way around this... any other new materials you know of hitting the market? Is everything going towards tough waxy cardboards for ice creams?

[JMJones0424]

The usual caveat applies- I am no chemist, nor do I play one on TV.

 

Biodegradable does not necessarily mean water soluble. There are after all biodegradable plastic water bottles and shopping bags. My understanding is that there are (at least?) three types of biodegradable plastics: plastics made conventionally (from petroleum) with an additive that allows for accelerated microbial decomposition- oxobiodegradable(OBD), plastics made from biomass- polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), and starch-derived polylactic acid (PLA).

 

Of course all plastic is technically biodegradable, it's just that most degrade extremely slowly, while these are specifically designed to degrade more rapidly (sometimes in specific environments like high humidity, high heat, UV exposure, etc.).