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How could this be the 'end of Plastic'? Plant-based plastics or not, chemically these are STILL PLASTICS. In the ocean it's all #plasticpollution. Let's wash away these empty claims and get some definitions straight... (1/12) https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1261652104457977857
1. BIO-BASED PLASTICS: Making a plastic bottle out of plants means creating a bio-based plastic. The only difference between bio-based and conventional plastics is what they're made from. It is still a plastic. (2/12)
Using plants instead of oil could be useful for moving away from fossil fuels at the plastic production stage... (3/12)
BUT it doesn’t make any difference when it comes to the rest of that plastic’s lifecycle. Bio-based plastics are JUST AS LIKELY to end as ocean #plasticpollution (4/12)
2. ‘BIODEGRADEABILITY’: This is about the end of life of a plastic’s lifecycle. To make a plastic that’s ‘biodegradeable’ means you’ve got to able to test and prove its biodegradability in SPECIFIC conditions. (5/12)
Whether something can biodegrade in a landfill is different to biodegradability in a heated industrial composter, which is COMPLETELY different from the ability to biodegrade in the cold, dark conditions at the bottom of the ocean. (6/12)
There are NO internationally recognised tests for marine biodegradability of plastics using realistic environtmental conditions. It is currently IMPOSSIBLE to back up these natural-environment biodegradeability claims. (7/12)
This is why the UN have concluded biodegrable plastics are NOT a solution to ocean plastic pollution. https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/report/biodegradable-plastics-and-marine-litter-misconceptions-concerns-and-impacts (8/12)
3. Marketing novel types of plastic for their ability to supposedly biodegrade in the environment incentivises easy 'throw-away' behaviour. This all distracts from the ultimate goal of establishing a closed-loop circular plastics economy. (9/12)
The message is confusing, suggesting 3 different, incompatible end of life scenarios. They say it can be composted, left to biodegrade, but ideally recycled. How as a consumer are you supposed to decipher that? (10/12)
If it’s compostable, that raises questions about how effective a feedstock it would be for recyclers. If it’s touted as biodegradeable, they’re anticipating pollution as a likely end of life scenario for these single-use plastics. Why is that acceptable? (11/12)
When it comes to magic solutions to #plasticpollution – and especially if they justify continued production of single-use plastic – if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. #unBIOlievable (12/12)
