Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Not all Green plastics are Created Equal

With the longest recorded strike by Toronto city workers coming to a close, city services will hopefully resume soon. Although city run daycamps and daycares were shut down and the Center Island Ferry did not run, it was the garbage accumulation that got noticed.

Maybe now is a good time to take a serious look at our throw away society and cut down and look for alternatives. As such bioplastics have received a lot of attention lately. As with anything, not all products are created equal and some companies have their bottom line as a priority rather than actually contributing to the solution. Businesses looking to implement bioplastics need to be aware of how different composition of bioplastics actually breakdown, if at all.

For example, "while a material can be labeled biodegradable (referring to the process whereby microorganisms cause decomposition and assimilation), it may not necessarily be compostable, the process by which material biodegrades to produce carbon dioxide, water and humus..." Take a look at the article, The Truth About Bioplastics by Fiona Wagner for more details.

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