A Biodegradeable Plastic Bag! Too Good To Be True?
Posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 5:04 pmFrom Gizmodo:
Biodegradable Plastic Bag Disappears in Four Months, Along With Your Earth-Killing Guilt
The reason plastic is awesome is that it’s super durable, so it lasts forever. The problem is that it lasts forever, even when we want it to just go away and take its place in the circle life. Biodegradable plastics aren’t new, but in the past they’ve been pretty weak and expensive, so not optimal replacements for your grocery sack. Eco-geeks at the Missouri University of Science and Technology have come up with the anti-daywalker of plastic: All of its strengths, but it disintegrates in four months.
Basically they’re making plastic cocktails, which vary depending on how the plastic’s going to be used: a blend for water bottles, another for groceries, all using bio-based fillers in the polymers, so it’ll be cheaper than past biogradegradables, but still fairly strong. One possible filler is glycerol, which is a waste product of making biodiesel. Another is polylactic acid, which is made by fermenting starches, and breaks down in just 60 days—it’s a possible candidate for water bottle plastics.
Course, you could use a polycarbonate or steel bottle over and over again, and cloth grocery bags, and skip the plastic entirely, but someone’s gotta take out those bastard sea gulls. [PhysOrg via PopSci via New Launches, Image via Flickr]
There is also Biodegradable technology using bactaria and enzyme which is cheap and very durable.
BIOPLAST is a manufacturing company of BIOPLAST Branded Biodegradable Garbage Bags for the household markets and for the industry as well as Biodegradable Carrier Bags for the retail sector using their own patented unique formula of bacteria enzyme base substrate as against starch base as used by other manufacturers world over which is not as strong or durable as polymer (plastic) bags and has a cost addition of 300%-400%. Also starch based products can comprise of genetically modified crops (GM Crops).
This is the only Biodegradable technology in the world using bacteria enzyme base substrate which is 100% biodegradable within 6 months after disposal as per ASTM-D 5988-1996 and EN 13432:2000/ISO 14855 standards with the lowest cost addition of 15%-20%.
BIOPLAST biodegradable products are also compostable and hence enhancing the nutritive value of the remaining soil. All the ingredients of BIOPLAST biodegradable plastic products are food grade and non-toxic in nature therefore are suitable to have contact with food products.
BIOPLAST believes that this great innovation will go a long way in preserving the ecological balance around the world which has brought intelligent and affordable solution to the disposal of polyethylene plastic waste problem worldwide.
“NOW THE FUTURE IS IN ALL OUR HANDS FOR ALL NEW GENERATIONS.”
www.bioplast.com.tr
posted on April 23rd, 2008 at 8:11 am