My understanding is that so-called "biodegradable" plastic is only broken up into bits too small for us to see — microplastics — by the inclusion of starch into the plastic. But the plastic itself doesn't really "go away"; it just gets removed from our sight, only to be consumed by tiny creatures.
My information may be dated. Do you know anything about this? Are "biodegradable" plastics much better these days? Do they actually chemically do away with the polymers? Or do they still just break the bags into tiny bits?
I live at a place where we all use composting toilets. We use "biodegradable" plastic bags in them, to vastly reduce the "yuk factor" of dumping and cleaning. But are we simply spreading micro-plastics this way?
is mentioned in the above article. There are multiple problems with bioplastics, from taking crop land to untested novel organic compounds released on breakdown. Absolutely do NOT use them in your composting toilet, try old newspapers instead, which would also give some necessary fiber.
The entire situation looks purposefully obfuscated.
Our bags say they conform to "ASTM D6400". I downloaded that standard, and it looks weak. They say stuff like "no visible plastic" when passed through a 2mm sieve. In other words, they don't even check for microplastics.
Excellent work, thank you. Just these issues alone are too much to handle. A part of me completely understands why most people are incapable of even acknowledging them. It’s overwhelmingly bad.
Thank you for your comment, Jan. Yes, people simply need to push serious issues out of mind and just get on with their day. Part of the dialectic of Capitalism - they are both victims and beneficiaries.
One other thing I forgot to mention about the tardigrades, besides them frequently being late for class, was that perhaps their survivability under radiation is an indication of how early life coped with radiation exposure by writing its Book of Life in encrypted code in RNA then DNA, along with check-sums and error-correcting systems, to provide a reliable pathway for reproduction over time. Oops, sorry, long sentence!
My understanding is that so-called "biodegradable" plastic is only broken up into bits too small for us to see — microplastics — by the inclusion of starch into the plastic. But the plastic itself doesn't really "go away"; it just gets removed from our sight, only to be consumed by tiny creatures.
My information may be dated. Do you know anything about this? Are "biodegradable" plastics much better these days? Do they actually chemically do away with the polymers? Or do they still just break the bags into tiny bits?
I live at a place where we all use composting toilets. We use "biodegradable" plastic bags in them, to vastly reduce the "yuk factor" of dumping and cleaning. But are we simply spreading micro-plastics this way?
Thank you for the comment, Jan! The link https://phys.org/news/2024-10-bioplastics-alternative-petro-plastics.html
is mentioned in the above article. There are multiple problems with bioplastics, from taking crop land to untested novel organic compounds released on breakdown. Absolutely do NOT use them in your composting toilet, try old newspapers instead, which would also give some necessary fiber.
The entire situation looks purposefully obfuscated.
Our bags say they conform to "ASTM D6400". I downloaded that standard, and it looks weak. They say stuff like "no visible plastic" when passed through a 2mm sieve. In other words, they don't even check for microplastics.
Excellent work, thank you. Just these issues alone are too much to handle. A part of me completely understands why most people are incapable of even acknowledging them. It’s overwhelmingly bad.
Thank you for your comment, Jan. Yes, people simply need to push serious issues out of mind and just get on with their day. Part of the dialectic of Capitalism - they are both victims and beneficiaries.
Thank you for helping spread the word on these issues Kathleen. Keep writing. I am interested in what else you have to say.
Thank you for the comment, Matt!
One other thing I forgot to mention about the tardigrades, besides them frequently being late for class, was that perhaps their survivability under radiation is an indication of how early life coped with radiation exposure by writing its Book of Life in encrypted code in RNA then DNA, along with check-sums and error-correcting systems, to provide a reliable pathway for reproduction over time. Oops, sorry, long sentence!
This is also happening with feral dogs and frogs near Chernobyl.
https://www.iflscience.com/why-are-the-dogs-of-chernobyl-undergoing-rapid-evolution-77028
So, not to worry about nuclear power! We'll just evolve our way around it…
Oops! Maybe not:
https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-children-of-chernobyl-2861027