Bioplastics, Biodegradability And Compostability - Do You Know The Difference?

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We are typically being asked what bioplastics are, or what is the significance of a product being naturally degradable or compostable? Exists any relationship in between bioplastics and biodegradability? How should we consumers deal with these products?

In this blog, we try to break down these concepts through basic explanations that will hopefully assist you better comprehend their significance and be more aware of the options you are taking as a consumer. Let's go step by step:

BIOPLASTICS.

These are products that are either originated from biomass (e.g. plants, such as corn or sugarcane) or are naturally degradable; or certainly feature both residential or commercial properties. They differ from traditional plastics in that the latter are made from fossil oil (petrol). The advantages of using eco-friendly products to produce bioplastics are: increase in resource effectiveness (e.g. use of biomass for various functions), decrease of the carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions (those that considerably add to environment change); and saving fossil resources by gradually substituting them.

BIODEGRADABLE.

Biodegradation is a process - a chemical procedure - throughout which microorganisms that are readily available in the environment transform products into natural substances such as water, carbon dioxide, and garden compost (artificial additives are not required). The process of biodegradation depends upon the surrounding ecological conditions (e.g. place or temperature level), on the materials included and on the procedure itself. This procedure can take short periods of time (weeks and months) or long periods of time (10s or perhaps hundreds of years).

In other words, plastic items made from biomass (a type of bioplastic) are not necessarily eco-friendly. On the other hand, some petrol-based plastics might be naturally degradable.

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The family of bioplastics can be divided into three primary groups:
• bio-based (or partially bio-based) however non-biodegradable plastics (e.g. PE, PP, PET, PTT or TPC-ET);.
• plastics that are both biodegradable and bio-based (e.g. PLA, PHA or PBS);.
• petrol-based plastics that are naturally degradable (e.g. PBAT).

COMPOSTABLE.

Composting is also a procedure-- a chemical process. It is the procedure of biodegradation under aerobic conditions (presence of totally free oxygen) within a time frame of 6-12 weeks. There are two methods to perform this process: industrially or home-compost.

Industrially compostable conditions are extremely particular and they have been defined under the European norm EN 13432 for product packaging products and adopted by the British Standard Institution under BS EN 13432 requirement. Just those packaging products that fulfill the strict criteria of the EN 13432 standard are approved with the accreditation of OK-Compost Industrial and can be unambiguously thought about industrially compostable. In practice, this indicates that you can dispose this material in your organic waste bin for it to be sent out to the closest commercial composting center.

Home-compostable product packaging instead is not covered under one single widely-known requirement however rather within numerous country-based ones. This is because the conditions in a home-compost are not that controllable as when it comes to an industrial compost. Under home-composting condition temperature levels and humidity can vary substantially from place to place, and year on year, not constantly accomplishing the right decomposition in a reasonable timeframe.

Nowadays, nevertheless, society and specialists in the field see the requirement for moving into this direction if we want to become more sustainable. That is why we might see very interesting advancements and innovations in this home-composability area in the following decade.

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