![]() ![]() When you see something labelled in that way, I think you automatically assume it will degrade more quickly than conventional bags. “For a biodegradable bag to be able to do that was the most surprising. “I was really amazed that any of the bags could still hold a load of shopping,” says Napper. And, much to the researchers' surprise, the bags were still functional, meaning that they could hold groceries without breaking. After spending three years in water and soil, the biodegradable, oxo-biodegradable and conventional plastic bags largely kept their original forms. The compostable bag in soil still held its shape after 27 months, though it was too weakened to hold any weight. By nine months, the open-air bags had all broken down into fragments. Within three months, the compostable bag in the marine environment completely disintegrated-but it was the only bag that did. The experiment began in July 2015, and the researchers checked on the bags regularly. The researchers tested both whole bags and bags that had been cut into strips and enclosed in mesh pouches. Research fellow Imogen Napper and Richard Thompson, a marine biologist and head of the university’s International Marine Litter Research Unit, tested conventional plastic bags, compostable bags, biodegradable bags and two types of oxo-biodegradable bags-or bags that do not do not need microorganisms to decompose and therefore “should biodegrade predictably in any environment,” writes Fast Company ’s Mark Wilson.Įach of the bag types was attached to a wall under the sun, buried in a university garden, submerged in Plymouth Harbor and, for control purposes, placed in a black box in a lab. The report, published in Environmental Science & Technology, describes an experiment by researchers at the University of Plymouth, who sought to find out how five different types of plastic behaved in various environments over time. Some, in fact, were still able to carry nearly five pounds of groceries after being exposed to the elements for three years. But as Laura Parker reports for National Geographic, a new study has found that biodegradable bags may not actually degrade all that quickly in the environment. In light of these sobering realities, biodegradable plastic bags have been touted as a better way to get your groceries and other purchases home from the store. Rather than decomposing, the standard plastic bags break down into tiny pieces that get consumed by a variety of organisms and make their way up the food chain. In the United States alone, 100 billion are used each year-the European Union goes through another 100 billion bags-and these single-use plastics often end up in the environment, where they pose a threat to animals. It’s no secret that the world has a plastic bag pollution problem. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |