It can take decades for biodegradable plastic to break down, and the world’s plastic-filled oceans can’t afford the wait, writes Adam Minter
Since 2004, China has been the world’s largest generator of waste, including plastics — but at least it’s trying to address the problemSince 2004, China has been the world’s largest generator of waste, including plastics. And, since 2010 at least, China has been the largest source of waste plastic flowing into the world’s oceans.
The history of biodegradable plastics dates back to 1975, when a group of Japanese scientists discovered bacteria that consumed nylon. As byproducts, they produced naturally occurring gases such as CO, as well as biomass in the form of more bacteria.
At the beginning of 2018, 90% of the straws made at Soton Daily Necessities. YW, one of the world’s largest straw manufacturers, were made from traditional plastics. By the end of that year, the share had dropped to 60%, as production of paper and biodegradable plastic straws ramped up. Worse, due to differences in chemistry, biodegradable plastics can’t be recycled with ordinary plastics. This means they have to be separated out and in China — where urbanites have long resisted sorting their recyclables — that’s unlikely to happen for many years.
For the Chinese government, the advantages of encouraging the switch to biodegradable plastics are obvious: at a minimum, it places the burden of managing growing volumes of plastic waste on manufacturers. But, for now, the government would be wiser to focus on cutting down the use of single-use plastic products entirely.
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