Is “Biodegradable” Just a Buzz Word? Here’s What is Really Means.
By Mitra Malek | December 23, 2021 | The Upside
If you believe you’re doing the planet a favor by using biodegradable or compostable plastic, you probably aren’t. Frustrating to hear, I know.
I bought compostable (or was it biodegradable? bio-based?) plastic cups and utensils for a party in 2013, thinking I was doing good. I didn’t contemplate the difference among the aforementioned descriptors nor did I consider the emissions, resources or potential chemicals (yes, chemicals) involved in making them — or what would happen to them and the environment when they ended up wherever they ended up. I just saw the pat-on-your-back label and you’re-awesome-if-you-buy this marketing and got on board.
Biodegradable plastic won’t decompose the way, for example, “a banana peel does in a backyard composter,” says Eve Fox, digital director of Beyond Plastics, an education and advocacy organization based at Bennington College’s Center for the Advancement of Public Action. “It will just sit there.”