Is New Biodegradable Plastic the Answer?
source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/is-new-biodegradable-plastic-the-answer.php
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- lookatmypix
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"How Does the New Biodegradable or Compostable Plastic Work?
The breakthrough heralded in this press release is the use of ENSO bottles. ENSO claims that their bottles are "biodegradable in both landfill and compost environments and can also be successfully mixed with standard PET plastic recycling." How is that possible?
This is where the spaghetti comes in. Plastics are all long chains of atoms, strongly bonded together to give them great technical properties like the ability to withstand a charge of high-pressure carbon dioxide or contain water without breaking down even when you forget the bottles in the trunk of your car on a sunny day. These long chains are called "polymers".
You know how hard it is to eat spaghetti? Well, polymers are like spaghetti to microbes. Very few microbes have developed knives (called enzymes in micro-world) which can cut through polymer chains. And the chains are just too long for the microbes to get their mouths around. (Having already risked entering annoying analogy territory, we will leave off anthropomorphizing micro-mouths.)"
At the link the risks mentioned are increased consumption of plastic bottles, rise in CO2 and the toxicity of the breakdown products.
Is this a good thing?
I don't see it as a solution, especially after looking at these risks, plastic should be banned altogether and instead look for a new material that is 100% safe, biodegradable and easily renewable.
What do you suggest?
Join Organic:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/
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brandonthebuck
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that was the hardest thing to explain to people: that biodegradable plastic isn't actually biodegradable. thankfully because this can biodegrade in a regular landfill, it's a step in the right direction.
- 2 years ago
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brandonthebuck
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Null81
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why is this in comedy.
- 2 years ago
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Null81
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lookatmypix
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Null81:
A little weird.
I took care of it. - 2 years ago
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lookatmypix
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DreSandoval
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WHAT ABOUT HEMP PLASTIC?
- 2 years ago
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DreSandoval
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lookatmypix
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DreSandoval:
Hopefully more and more companies will start researching on hemp plastic until it will substitute oil once and for all.
From http://www.hempplastic.com/newSite/index.htm :
"Why Hemp?
If today is a typical day on planet Earth, we will lose 116 square miles of rainforest, or about an acre a second. We will lose another 72 square miles to encroaching deserts, as a result of human mismanagement and overpopulation. We will lose 40 to 100 species, and no one knows whether the number is 40 or 100. Today the human population will increase by 250,000. And today we will add 2,700 tons of chlorofluorocarbons to the atmosphere and 15 million tons of carbon. Tonight the Earth will be a little hotter, it's waters more acidic, and the fabric of life more threadbare.*"
- 2 years ago
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lookatmypix
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larrysnotes
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Its a good start.
- 2 years ago
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larrysnotes
