Some biodegradable and compostable handbag hold food market with relaxation even after being inhume in soil or at sea for three year , posing questions about how eco - friendly these alternative bag options really are .
Because of their lightweight , strong , and durable nature , charge card bag have become a staple of everyday life sentence since they were first introduced in the seventies . Today , world plastic production exceeds335 million tonnes(369 million tons ) with around one-half of all plastics chucked out after one habit . As such , the UN Environment Assembly named the accretion of plastic debris as a major global crisis in 2015 , sparking the instauration of substitute plastic - like materials . Today , the spheric charge plate battle is one at the forefront ofinternational environmental insurance policy .
But the study begs the question : are biodegradable or compostable bag options really all that much better ?
To find out , researchers at the University of Plymouth took four dissimilar types of usually used unintelligible bags most prevalently used by UK retailers . A totality of 16 of these travelling bag – made of biodegradable , oxo - biodegradable , compostable , and conventional high - density polythene material – were either lay to rest in grime , submerge in seawater , allow for in the open air , or send in a control research laboratory for up to three twelvemonth in rescript to determine how efficiently they break down .
After spending nine months in the open air , all materials disintegrated into fragments but the overall effect vary by material and surround . Biodegradable , oxo - biodegradable , and formal charge plate stayed together well enough for use after being in the soil or maritime surround for more than three old age . Meanwhile , compostable bags disappear in the marine environment after three months but were present in the grease after more than two class .
“ After three years , I was really amazed that any of the bags could still hold a load of shopping . For a biodegradable udder to be able to do that was the most surprising , ” said tether researcher Imogen Napper in astatement . “ When you see something pronounce in that way , I think you automatically sham it will degrade more quickly than established base . But , after three year at least , our research shows that might not be the case . ”
Altogether , the researchers say their employment suggests even the ware we think of as eco - well-disposed may be doing just as much impairment as ordinary credit card .
“ This research raises a number of questions about what the public might expect when they see something labeled as biodegradable . We demonstrate here that the textile test did not present any consistent , reliable and relevant advantage in the context of marine bedding material , ” said Richard Thompson , Head of the International Marine Litter Research Unit at Plymouth . “ It refer me that these novel materials also pose challenges in recycling . Our study emphasizes the need for standard relating to degradable materials , understandably outlining the appropriate disposal footpath and rates of degradation that can be expected . ”
Plastics have been found in nigh every ecosystem on the planet , from the deepestdepths of the oceanto the round top of some of Earth’shighest peak .
Collectively , the results show that “ none of the travelling bag could be relied upon to show any substantial deterioration over a 3 - year period in all of the environments , ” pen the authors inEnvironmental Science & Technology“It is therefore not clear that the oxo - biodegradable or biodegradable formulations provide sufficiently in advance rates of deterioration to be advantageous in the context of boil down shipboard soldier bedding material , equate to schematic bags . ”
