‘Biodegradable Plastics’ Not As Eco-Friendly As You Think

In an attempt at becoming more eco-friendly, stores and malls all over the world have been using biodegradable plastic and biodegradable water bottles.

However, it seems that these are not doing the environment any good. In a report by the United Nations published on Monday, most of the plastics are extremely durable, leading to more and more debris and "microplastics" that spread via currents toward the oceans.

The "green" alternative plastics have been marketed as sustainable - after all, it is supposed to break down in the environment. Still, according to UN's Jacqueline McGlade, these plastics were not a simple solution to the worldwide garbage problem.

"It's well-intentioned but wrong. A lot of plastics labelled biodegradable, like shopping bags, will only break down in temperatures of 50C and that is not the ocean," she shared. "They are also not buoyant, so they're going to sink, so they're not going to be exposed to UV and break down."

ABC News noted that the main weathering agent in the ocean is UV irradiation, which is most concentrated on shorelines. However, these plastics rarely stay there. When the materials make their way in the water, it is difficult to estimate how fast they biodegrade, but it's considered to be "extremely slow" due to the decresed UV exposure, lower temperatures, and oxygen levels.

Another problem is the label - that plastic is said to be "biodegradable" encourages people to pollute, after all, they are "eco-friendly."

"Biodegradable plastic" is a lie: the estimates regarding global plastic production grew 4 percent from 2013 to 2014, to the tune of 311 million metric tons, and out of these, at least 8 million metric tons or one garbage truck per minute worth of plastics make their way into the ocean every year.

As Huffington Post put it, there is no need for a pat on the back for using biodegradable plastic bags - to save the planet, we have to do so much more than that.