The Plastics Environmental Council (PEC) is sponsoring research to produce the first standard specification for landfill biodegradation of petroleum- and natural gas-derived plastics treated with additives to speed up anaerobic biodegradation. Such a standard would be a huge help in coping with the estimated 29 million tons of post-consumer nonrecycled plastics that end up in landfills.
Plastics are generally not biodegradable unless they've been specifically engineered to do so, as materials used in food service items are in many areas of California. Petroleum-derived plastics don't usually biodegrade unless they've had certain chemical additives introduced to them during the manufacturing process. The additives don't affect the plastics' performance, and products that contain the additives can be processed with existing recycling methods.
An additive made by ENSO Plastics, a PEC member, includes organic compounds that bond hydrostatically to the material's molecules. When the material is placed in an environment like a landfill, the additive attracts anaerobic microbes that colonize the plastic, digest the additive, and further digest the plastic by depolymerizing it. The final products are either methane or carbon dioxide and humus.
The PEC-sponsored large-scale research and development program will be conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology and North Carolina State University and aims to produce a specification and a certification seal. The specification will reliably project landfill biodegradation rates for a given PEC-certified product in a given range of landfills over a given range of moisture conditions. The PEC expects the development of the specification to build confidence among regulators, consumers, and businesses in the effectiveness of plastics additives. It estimates the certification seal will be available in 18 months.
The study will be the first of its kind to verify biodegradation rates of plastic waste treated with additives under both laboratory and field conditions, Robert McKnight, the PEC's chairman, said in a press release.
Professor Morton Barlaz of North Carolina State and his team will examine waste degradation rates under both field and laboratory conditions. To produce the specification, they will study petroleum- and natural gas-derived plastics that have been treated with additives from PEC member companies.
The additives are organic substances that encourage anaerobic landfill bacteria and fungi to break down the materials and convert them to biogas methane, carbon dioxide, and biogenic carbon. "Research done so far using standard test methods suggests that the treated plastics could biodegrade completely within five to ten years, depending on landfill conditions," Lisa Detter Hoskin, a principal research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, who co-chairs the PEC’s technical advisory committee, said in a press release. A network of accredited laboratories will test products made with the biodegradable additives to ensure they degrade within a specified period.
PEC member companies include Biofilms, Bio-Tec Environmental, C-Line Products, ECM, Ecolab, Ecologic, FP International, Pure Plastics, and Wincup.
There is a new kind of plastic additive to induce biodegradation in conventional polymers. It is designed specifically to cause biodegradation of polymers in landfills and in natural bodies of water. I call this class of additives, microbiodegradable. This is completely different than oxodegradable additives. There is no UV light or heat treatment phase needed to initiate biodegradation. All degradation caused by using these additives is biodegradation, because no catalysts are used. See http://earthnurture.com to learn more.
This particular study is focused on plastics derived from petroleum and natural gas, not bio-based plastics. The additives they are to be treated with will accelerate anaerobic biodegradation, which implies that the process is for hydrobiodegradable plastics. Using at least one of the additives, either methane or humus and CO2 can result, so yes, those add to the greenhouse problem.
But oxo-biodegradable plastics aren't entirely "clean", either. Their biodegradation, which involves metal salts as catralysts, leaves behind tiny fragments of metals and plastics.
It seems that the current state of plastics biodegradation solutions either add CO2, or don't entirely biodegrade, or both.
@Symphony Environmental: The plastics described in this article appear to be different from either oxobiodegradables or bio-based (PLA) biodegradable plastics. They are designed to be broken down by anaerobic bacteria in a landfill; as you point out, this will produce methane, but the accompanying press release discusses capturing this methane and using it for energy production. You're right that this is probably not the best solution from a climate change perspective.
Oxobiodegradable plastics are not without their problems, either. They can't be composted or recycled, and if they make it into a landfill, they won't break down. As you say, they are designed to break down in the open environment. What his means is that, perversely, you may be better off throwing them out of the window of your car than trying to dispose of them by normal means.
As Tim pointed out, biodegradable plastics are the "fat free donut" of plastics. This is a good analogy. If you want to lose weight, you shouldn't eat too many donuts; if you want to live a sustainable lifestyle, you shouldn't use so much disposable packaging or so many disposable products. My opinion is that, rather than searching in vain for a fat free donut, you're better off simply eating your fruits and vegetables - where "eating your fruits and vegetables" means reduce/reuse/recycle, instead of trying to come up with a guilt-free way to maintain our disposable lifestyle.
I would like to clarify a few points. Oxo-biodegradable additives add a very small amount to the cost. Using bio-based plastics however, would add approximately 400% to the overall cost.
Secondly, unlike bio-based plastics, Oxo-biodegradable plastic has the same performance as conventional plastics during its useful life. Several of the comments I read mention anaerobic decomposition, but this is highly undesirable as it creates methane and adds to the green house gas problem.
Oxo-biodegradable plastics are designed to deal with the problem of plastic litter in our open land environment and oceans. They have been tested to international standards and are verified by published science.
Charles, I tried to find out the cost of the additives, but everyone's holding that information pretty close to their chests.
Yes, material properties are affected, although to what extent was unclear aside from the mention of depolymerization. In the case of composites recycling
the resulting materials are quite different. Composites that were previously used for structural components once recycled can only be used for non-structural components.
Biodegradable polymers have been the fat free donut of the polymers. They have been something that always seem possible but never really worked well. The use of additives to help during anerobic decomposition is great. This opens the door to non-corn based polymers that can degrade naturally. It would be good to see the rough cost of the additive.
Ann: What is the relative cost of the additives? Do the additives affect material properties? If the cost is low and the material properties are intact, this seems like a no-brainer.
@William: you're right, "Because we've always done it that way" is one of the most maddeningly stupid justifications for anything, especially when the way we've always done it is obviously not working. However, inertia is something which needs to be taken into account in industries as well as mechanical systems.
@Rob Spiegel, Alexander Wolfe, and everybode else talking about regulatory compliance: Ann is exactly right that this story really has nothing to do with government regulations. This is about industry and academia coming up with voluntary standards in order to better define what biodegradability means for a specific class of plastics. Given that, in a mostly unregulated environment (with the exception of California), the term "biodegradable" has been somewhat abused by applying it to plastics which had poor properties, were environmentally unfriendly, or both, this seems like quite a sensible move.
Alex has a good point. Because the electronics industry (many industries acturally) is global, U.S. companies have to adhere to European Union regulations. While the EU provides for input from industry, European reulations tend to be more advanced than anything we could expect on the federal level in the United States.
Globally, the whole industry has to meet the strictest regulations among the markets where products might be sold.
Many companies in the electronics industry are fine with regulations that do indeed make sense from an environmental POV. Much opf the complaints about EU regs have to do with regs that were passed without scientific scrutiny.
That aspect has changed in the EU in recent months. The EU responded positively to calls for scientific inquery by IPC earlier this year.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
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