Switch to bioplastics is the first step towards a greener planet
- About 60 per cent of all bioplastics made today are not biodegradable
- Plastic production set to more than triple by 2050
It’s hard to imagine a world without plastics. The ubiquitous material is not going away any time soon.
A 2016 World Economic Forum study forecast that overall plastics production would rise from 311 million tonnes per year to over 1.1 billion tonnes by 2050, and that the industry’s share of oil consumption would rise from 6 per cent to 20 per cent.
But they are a curse as pollutants because they linger in the environment for centuries. Worse, they break down into microparticles without actually biodegrading. These microparticles can wind up in soil and water, ultimately contaminating the food we eat.
Bioplastics, which are made from plant material, are touted as a possible solution to the plastics problem.
Bioplastics therefore may grow in popularity to reduce oil dependency, as much as to find a solution to waste.
However, not all bioplastics are biodegradable. About 60 per cent of all bioplastics made today are not biodegradable. A biobased version of PET – the plastic compound used to make plastic bottles – accounts for over 40 per cent of all bioplastic production and is not biodegradable.