

In other instances, they will use a high pressure vat and recreate the microbial metabolic processes to speed up the breakdown of biodegradable plastics.


When it comes to biodegradable plastics, researchers will often place them in fields and monitor the biodegradation process over time. Shirts with the company's logos are handed out and images from the event will be published to press releases but back at the production plant are they really eco friendly? This might include sponsoring neighborhood events where community members will go down to the seashore and cleanup plastic bottles and bags. Many energy companies claim to be eco friendly because they are affiliated with some green project. When a product is labeled “eco friendly” the term could be used very vaguely. How Do Manufacturers Determine If An Item Will Decompose At A Faster Rate? Co-founder of Sun Microsystems said it best “Electric cars are coal powered cars”. In addition, electric cars run by electricity which is produced via coal. Compare that to the amount of CO2 of a regular car which is 16,000 pounds. According to PregurU, by the time an electric car comes off the assembly line it’s responsible for 25,000 pounds of C02. However, the battery in an electric car is made out of lithium, and mining it is not a green activity. For example, electric cars claim to produce zero carbon emission since they don’t use gas. There are many fraudulent claims on the market about these materials being eco-friendly and saving the planet. Society can only rely on researchers who take the time to study the results of using biodegradable plastics. Do your homework on the different types of biodegradable plastics and get feedback from the makers as to how long it takes to decompose. They have to do the research and development to determine if these biodegradable bin bags are breaking down faster than the typical plastic bag. The onus should fall onto the manufacturer who makes the product. In truth it’s not the consumer's problem to identify if a product really decomposes when it ends up in the ground. How Many People Are Testing To See If Biodegradable Plastic Breaks Down? It’s not that we should flood the environment with plastic bags, but as consumers we truly need to know if what we purchase stands up to what it claims. It’s kind of like the protein shakes, if they help people lose weight then great, but if not I might as well have that Hershey bar. If it does indeed help the environment then we have justified “The Green Initiative” but if it does not then we might as well use high quality plastic trash bags. So, as consumers we are supposed to absorb this message and think that when we purchase a biodegradable phone case it will in fact help the environment and prevent ozone layer depletion. Call it “The Green Project” or “The Green Initiative”, all of these programs have one clear objective, to reduce pollution and allow the environment to flourish in its natural state. People are swarmed with marketing material in grocery store chains and warehouse clubs nationwide with products that claim to help the environment. Some of these products include biodegradable baby diapers, grass seed mats, camping coolers, rubber gloves, and of course biodegradable clear trash bags. Over the years, environmentally friendly products have become very popular across a variety of industries. Many have debated as to whether or not biodegradable plastic garbage bags truly break down or not.
