sdg 12 | responsible consumption
A study concludes that products such as bags made from organic materials do not break down well in the bin and generate polluting waste
Despite good intentions, recycling compostable plastics at home (those that come from organic materials, such as
potato) ends up being more of a failure than a success. According to a study carried out by University College London, 60% of compostable plastics do not completely disintegrate in household composting bins, so they continue to generate waste that pollutes the soil.
The report also highlights that consumers are not clear about the differences between compostable and biodegradable plastics (those that are manufactured so that certain living organisms use it as a carbon source and end up disintegrating it). Something that also causes this plastic waste not to be separated correctly.
The study authors recall that the term “compostable plastic” describes a material that can undergo biological degradation at a composting site at a rate consistent with other known materials, without leaving visible toxic residue.
However, these materials are currently incompatible with most waste management systems. There is no harmonized international standard for household compostable plastics. Therefore, the destination of these plastics, when they are thrown away or classified for recycling, is incineration or landfill.
“The typical destination of landfill or incineration is often not communicated to customers, so environmental claims made about compostable packaging can be misleading,” says author Danielle Purkiss.
bad results
It should be noted that this study was carried out in the United Kingdom, but that the authors consider that their conclusions can be extrapolated to other countries since “domestic composting practices are greatly affected by variations in climate, as well as by the methods used. . Therefore, it is very possible that the performance of compostable packaging in home composting will be affected in a similar way, ”explains the author of the report to this writing.
The study was carried out through a survey on the opinion that people have about compostable plastics, food waste and how they behave with them. Additionally, some respondents participated in a home composting experiment where they were asked to look for traces of compostable plastic items. The researchers collected data over a 24-month period.
The conclusions, published in the report ‘
The Big Compost Experiment’also collect the views of industry, politics and third sector organisations, in order to have a comprehensive view of the “systemic problems in the manufacture, use and disposal of compostable plastic packaging”, explains Purkiss .
Although in general terms it can be said that people have a good predisposition to make sustainable decisions when buying compostable plastics, there is some confusion about the labeling and identification of these plastics. From a random sample of 50 images of various products, the researchers found that 46% did not display identifiable certification labeling or home composting standards, and 14% displayed industrial composting certification.
Lack of training and communication
“This shows that there is currently a lack of labeling and clear communication to ensure that the public can identify what is an industrial or domestic compostable container, and how to dispose of it correctly,” says the author of the research.
As Danielle Purkiss explains to this newsroom, “marketing messages around compostable and biodegradable packaging are mostly unregulated, which causes confusion about how to identify the different materials and how to dispose of them correctly.”
During the study, the participants were asked to only taste the containers that showed a certain information, “it was found that there were a large number of containers that had an “industrial compostable” seal or no recognizable certification or standard.”
The packages that had to be tested were those with labels “compostable”, “home biodegradable”, “home compostable”, “suitable for home composting”, TUV OK Compost ‘Home’ certification mark and/or Din Certco certification mark. ‘Home Compostable’.
Additionally, 60% of certified home compostable plastic does not fully disintegrate in home compost bins. The authors of the study attribute this data in part to the conditions of domestic composting in the United Kingdom, but denounce that, in the end, this causes “plastic pollution to be generated”. “Even packaging that has been certified as home compostable does not break down effectively,” they stress.
how to recycle at home
Asked about how they carry out this work of compost recycling, the participants indicated that they use their compost in their flower and vegetable gardens. As the results of the experiment show that the compost contains plastic that has not fully broken down, the plastic inevitably ends up on UK citizens’ land.
In any case, this experiment has also served to demonstrate that composting bins, even domestic ones, are a source of biodiversity, since the photos sent by the participants showed 14 different categories of organisms, such as fungi, mites and worms.
However, for the researchers, the conclusions of the study cast doubt on whether compostable plastics are a solution to the problem of plastic pollution.
Although they consider that this material can be useful for certain products, they consider that it should be avoided for others such as tea bags, fruit labels, takeaway food containers and certain hygiene products. “These products often end up in landfill,” explains Purkiss. In these cases, the researchers conclude that the best solution is to send the compostable plastics to industrial composting facilities, where composting conditions are regulated.
“We have shown that home composting, as it is not controlled, is largely inefficient and is not a good method of disposing of compostable packaging”, concludes the researcher, who assures that “only a system for the production, collection and reprocessing of a material can be sustainable,” concluded Purkiss.
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