In the United States alone, 40 billion plastic utensils are thrown away each year, and there are estimates that plastic in the oceans will outweigh fish by the year 2050. Are bioplastics the magic solution to the plastic global crisis? Does the little spoon that comes with your frozen yogurt or gelato say "compostable"? If so, it is one example of bioplastic. These bio-derived materials are reassuringly marketed as a compostable, more eco-friendly alternative to conventional plastic, which is made from petroleum. But just how environmentally friendly an item may be is based on the number of resources that go into manufacturing it and its post-consumer disposal. To complicate matters, there are no federal standards to regulate labels, making it confounding to consumers. Are bioplastics really a green alternative or another example of “greenwashing” that places a burden on the consumer to figure out how to dispose of them properly?
What are bioplastics? There are several types of bioplastic, but the most common one is PLA (polylactic acid), a thermoplastic monomer derived from renewable, organic sources such as corn, sugarcane, soy, or cassava. Although such renewable materials produce fewer greenhouse gasses to make compared to traditional plastic, farming the crops requires extensive land use, fertilizers, and pesticides, which causes pollution, acidification, and algae blooms. As far as their end stage goes, there is no evidence that PLA is biodegradable in nature’s soil, your backyard compost, or a landfill environment.
Disposal of bioplastic What happens to that bioplastic spoon after you polish off your treat? Technically, all materials – even plastic -- are inherently biodegradable and will break down eventually -- given time. Of course, they may just break down into smaller and smaller pieces of microplastic instead of truly returning to nature. And how long will it take? Will it occur in our lifetime? Is the timeline a few weeks or a million years? Terms like biodegradable and compostable, are not interchangeable, not to mention complex and confusing to the consumer. All compostable material is biodegradable, but not all biodegradable material is compostable. Compostable materials require very specific conditions to break down. Even backyard composting requires certain conditions. PLA utensils at school cafeterias, for example, require high temperatures to degrade naturally and between 100 to 1,000 years to break down fully in landfill. Meanwhile, as they're breaking down, they release carbon dioxide back into the environment and produce methane, a greenhouse gas.
Getting rid of bioplastic is not easy:
Trash can If you’re out and about, obviously the easiest thing to do with your bioplastic spoon is fling it into the nearest trash receptacle, where it will eventually go to landfill and languish for a really long time.
Recycling can If there’s a recycling can nearby, you might happily chuck it in there, but that would be a mistake because while recycling is the best option for some single-use items like water bottles and aluminum cans, it is a consistently bad option for most foodservice packaging. Never mix plastics labeled "compostable" with plastics deemed acceptable for recycling - i.e. plastics with the chasing arrows recycling emblem that do not also state "compostable."
Backyard compost In good faith, you might bring the spoon home and throw it in your home compost bin, where it will never fully degrade. You might even save it and use it a few more times. But at some point, you will discard and “wishcycle” the spoon - hoping it goes somewhere where it can completely biodegrade naturally. Unfortunately, only limited parts of so-called “compostable” cutlery is degradable, and extracting the inorganic materials from the organic materials requires special processes.
Industrial composting Compostable bioplastics actually need to go to an industrial composting facility that is expressly designed to break items down through an effective combination of high heat, microbes, and time. The compost industry turns thousands of tons of yard and food waste into nutrient-rich compost for agriculture, nurseries, landscaping businesses, and home gardens. Quality compost creates healthier and more resilient soil, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, recycles nutrients, and conserves water. This reduces the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. But the soil needs to reach a high enough temperature to break down bioplastics, and even then, it may not qualify to be sold as “organic” if it is deemed contaminated by the semi-organic matter in the bioplastic.
In a nutshell, when items are labelled and sold as compostable, it really means they are industrially compostable and most likely not home compostable. In contrast, biodegradable materials will break down in the environment naturally on their own but may not break down completely. To add insult to injury, they can also release harmful substances as they break down or leave behind toxic residue -- not what those of us who are trying to do right by the planet have in mind.
Where are industrial composting facilities? The main U.S. certifier of compostables is BPI (The Biodegradable Products Institute), and their logo on items certifies that single-use plastic and compostable plastic will safely break down in compost, BUT they must get to a commercial/industrial composting facility to do so. So, how do we get this spoon and other hard bioplastics to an industrial composting facility? There’s the rub. While such facilities are readily accessible in some other countries like the Netherlands, there are only about 200 in the United States, and less than 50% actually process bioplastics. More importantly, most Americans don’t have access to them. For our area, Recology in San Francisco is the closest commercial composting facility. Check out Recology's "What Goes Where" HERE. Of course, getting your compostable plastic there if you don't live in San Francisco presents a challenge.
Sometimes consumers are led to believe that bioplastics will break down more quickly in environments other than an industrial composting system and may even be tempted to throw that spoon where “nature can take its course,” but littering is not the solution, and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition says compostable plastics are not tested for how quickly they break down in oceans either.
What Are Some Options?
Mixed success with alternatives Finding acceptable alternatives is a work in progress. For example, many schools use single-use bioplastic serveware, and some school districts in Contra Costa County are trying to head in the right direction by switching from disposable plastic to fiber-based or reusable cutlery. MDUSD is switching from single-use plastics to PLA utensils. Campolindo H.S. in Moraga is testing birch ware and adding an additional bucket in the cafeteria to collect those utensils after use for yard waste. The advantage of thin wooden utensils like birch and bamboo is they will eventually decompose completely wherever they end up even if not disposed properly. (Plus, methane isn't as big an issue.) Schools in Lafayette, Orinda, and Moraga, which are served by the food services company Sodexo, are trying to go with reusable (traditional silverware) utensils, and some schools even received state funding to install dishwashers for this purpose.
Reduce In general, avoid using single-use plastic items, whether they’re plastic or bio-plastic. Check out winners in sustainability leadership at this year’s SCOCO Gala who are focused on reducing packaging and waste! Incidentally, SCOCO always uses silverware, cloth napkins, and ceramic plates at all their events!
Avoid conventional plastic It’s hard not to throw up our hands and just use regular plastic, but plastic cutlery is made of polypropylene and polystyrene, aka “forever chemicals,” which can take over 400 years to degrade. Producing just one pound of plastic cutlery can take up to 78 liters of water and release 2.5 lbs. of CO2. Resist the urge to revert back to this unsustainable choice. Remember to mention “No plastic utensils please” when getting take-away food or using drive-throughs.
Prioritize reusable products. Bring your own utensils. This can be silverware you designate for fast food or fro-yo. Yes, you’ll need to wash that silver spoon or fork later (and then put back in your car, backpack, or purse). The hardest part may be remembering to do that! Consider keeping reusable chopsticks or bamboo utensils in your glove compartment.
What about edible cutlery? Have you heard of forks, spoons, and chopsticks that you can eat after using? Some forward thinking companies like twenty-fifty fork have created edible cutlery made of water and grains such as rice, wheat, or sorghum. They require less water to manufacture and release less carbon dioxide when they degrade. They are completely compostable after 30 days, and you can fertilize your plants with them. They are not widely available yet, though, and are on the expensive side.
Barley plastic The University of Copenhagen has created a new material made from modified barley starch blended with fiber from sugarbeet waste that can decompose in nature within two months. Check it out!
SB 54 State Law In 2022, Gavin Newsom signed into law SB 54, also known as the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act. It requires that all forms of single-use packaging and food ware be recyclable or compostable by 2032. It also shifts plastic pollution responsibility and accountability to the product manufacturers.
Conclusion The term “biodegradable plastic” is misleading and problematic for the environment. Bioplastics are marketed as the solution to single-use items because they use less energy compared to conventional plastics and generate fewer greenhouse gases, but it is environmentally friendly only up to a point. Their uses are short-lived and they stay in the environment a long time and only break down under very specific conditions.
Sources and Further Reading:
Thanks to Nancy Deming, K-12 Sustainability Specialist
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2017/12/13/the-truth-about-bioplastics/
https://www.urthpact.com/news/what-are-bioplastics/
https://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/faqs/what-is-pla#IsitEnvironmentallyFriendly
https://www.stopwaste.org/sites/default/files/topic-brief-2022-07-SB-54-6.pdf
https://ecostandard.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ECOS-FACTSHEET-BIODEGRADABLE-PLASTICS-1.pdf
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/4-reasons-why-bioplastics-arent-answer-our-plastic-crisis/
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2017/12/13/the-truth-about-bioplastics/
https://environment.umn.edu/education/susteducation/bioplastics/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKJSIl63DJwn/bioplastics/
https://www.recology.com/recology-san-francisco/what-goes-where/
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