I recently met a woman who proudly said that she did not have a general rubbish bin: she recycled or composted everything. It’s a goal I am yet to reach.
My pet hate, however, is the overuse of plastic. It annoys me to hear people ask for a bag for 1 or 2 items at the supermarket, when they double bag, when only a few items are placed in each bag, when supermarkets wrap fruit and veg in plastic… and the list goes on. It’s not easy to shop without taking home large amounts of plastic. We use 4 billion plastic shopping bags each year!
More than 1 million tonnes of plastic end up in landfill in Australia every year and plastic also ends up in our oceans where it causes cruel and painful deaths for many animals and fish and enters the food chain when small pieces are eaten by marine life and are then consumed by larger fish and animals. Plastic lasts for hundreds of years in landfill and the oceans.
A bird eating a fish in plastic rubbish
In trying to do the right thing we use degradable plastic, biodegradable plastic, compostable plastic and bio plastic. Are these any better than “normal” plastic?
In general- no.
Degradable plastics
Degradable plastics don’t disappear; they have chemicals added to help them to break down to smaller pieces. The small pieces hang around and cause damage, particularly to marine life. When larger plastics are broken down to smaller pieces they can pose hazards to marine life that they may not have harmed beforehand. Breaking down a large piece of plastic into several smaller pieces means they are accessible to more animals.
Biodegradable plastics
Biodegradable plastics are plastics that are capable of being broken down by microorganisms. Microorganisms, however, have ideal conditions in which they operate. If the plastics are not disposed of under the right temperature, humidity, light etc they won’t break down. To be called biodegradable the product does not have to breakdown within a particular time period. Biodegradable plastics don’t necessarily break down to harmless substances and they produce methane gas in landfills. There is no Australian Standard that manufacturers must comply with for biodegradable plastics. Biodegradable plastics can’t be easily recycled. This means that if mixed with recyclable plastics they may make the whole collection unrecyclable.
Compostable plastics
Compostable plastics are also usually referred to as biodegradable. These plastics break down in composting bins (if labelled “home compostable“) and in commercial composting facilities. These plastics may not break down in landfill and not all councils collect and compost compostable plastics as composting facilities are not very common. Australia has a Standard that compostable plastics must comply with if the manufacturer is promoting the plastic’s compostable nature.
Bioplastics
Bioplastics are made from plant materials rather than from petrochemicals. The land used for growing these plants, however, could be growing food crops. Some bioplastics can break down in a matter of weeks, but they aren’t always readily degradable and can leave toxic residues. Bioplastics can’t be recycled.
The answer to reducing plastic in rubbish
Unfortunately we don’t have a magic solution yet. Best is REFUSE, REUSE, REPAIR , RECYCLE the plastic. For example:
- Take your own shopping bags
- Choose a long life product if possible, rather than a cheap plastic disposable one
- Buy loose fruit and vegies, not pre wrapped ones, and don’t use an extra plastic bag for them
- REUSE plastic containers
- Buy products that are made from RECYCLED materials
- REPAIR plastic products that can be fixed and still work, rather than throwing them away
- Take plastic packaging and bags to Woolies and Coles for recycling and reuse
- As a business, think about the need to use plastic packaging and do without, use less of it or use an alternative.