Is biodegradable plastic are costly

Answer 1

Yes! The issue is distinguishing between all plastics that claim biodegradable. ASTM Defines biodegradable plastic as: a degradable plastic in which the

degradation results from the action of naturally-occurring

microorganisms (microbes) such as bacteria, fungi, and algae. There are mainly 3 categories currently offered in the market today. 1)Commercially Compostable, 2) Oxo-degradable, 3) Biodegradable plastics. 1) Compostable plastics (generally PLA-plastic derived from corn) say they are biodegradable, but it takes 140 degrees of sustained heat to break down the plastic in order to make it biodegradable or consumable by microbes in the commercial compost facility. (*NOTE-PLA is NOT compostable in a home compost environment, and contaminates the recycle stream...) 2) Oxo-degradable plastics are created by adding salts and heavy metals into the regular plastic, to create oxidization (breaks down in presence of oxygen) which in turn will fragment the plastic into small pieces. (*NOTE-Oxo-degradable should be thought of as fragmentable plastic and not biodegradable as their has been no scientific data to prove microbial consumption, also an obvious contaminate to recycling) 3) Biodegradable plastic follows the ASTM definition as consumable by microbes in and of itself, without the need of any heat or other mechanical change necessary. These plastics are created by the addition of organic materials which are highly desirable for microbes to consume. Microbes emit enzymes to digest the additive, and in turn unlock the plastic carbon chain within the plastic molecule to be additional food. This process is continued until the whole plastic item is consumed. Any food item or other organic material is processed by nature in the identical fashion. The esnoplastics do NOT contaminate the recycle stream because the organic materials do not chemically bond or alter plastic)

Answer 2

No apparantly