It is understood that the EU produces 25 million tons of plastic waste every year, but only 1 / 10 of it is recycled. In order to solve the problem of a large number of plastics being discarded, the European Parliament has passed a bill to completely ban disposable plastic products. In fact, different countries or regions have similar bans. For example, South Australia and France have banned the sale of disposable straws, tableware and mixing rods since 2021; Chinese Mainland has also banned the production and sale of disposable foamed plastic tableware since 2021.

Among the first batch of "no plastic" lists, disposable bags containing non biodegradable polymer materials include shopping bags, daily plastic bags, paper plastic composite bags and garbage bags; Disposable tableware containing non biodegradable polymer materials, including boxes (including covers), bowls (including covers), dishes, plates, beverage cups (including covers) and other products, are listed in the "blacklist". In the supplementary catalogue of "plastic prohibition", there are ultra-thin agricultural film, disposable knives, forks and spoons, plastic cotton swabs and washing products containing plastic beads.

Facing the increasingly serious "plastic ban order", the market began to be filled with a variety of alternatives. Some of these substitutes boast that the materials are natural, some boast that they are all biodegradable plastics, and others are degradable plastics. What exactly does these boast represent? Is the so-called environmentally friendly plastic really environmentally friendly?

What is "fully biodegradable plastics"?

Under natural conditions or artificial control, organic substances can be decomposed and transformed into small molecular substances under the action of biological life activities.

Under natural conditions, affected by temperature, water, light, oxygen and other factors, it is different from biodegradable plastics. Fully biodegradable plastics do not contain biodegradable components, so they can be completely decomposed by microorganisms without residue, which is fully biodegradable plastics.

What is the difference between "fully biodegradable plastics" and "degradable plastics"?

Degradation is PE + degradation agent; Or add starch, stone powder, etc. Although this kind of degradable plastic can be degraded, it can not be completely degraded. It still contains plastic and other related components. Only part of it can be degraded under natural conditions. If it is buried or burned, it will still cause harm to the environment and indirectly aggravate the greenhouse effect. In other words, when people choose or use this degradable plastic, it will also pollute the environment like traditional plastic bags.

Fully degradable plastics refer to: under natural conditions, such as soil and / or sandy soil, and / or specific conditions, such as composting, anaerobic digestion or aqueous culture medium, they are degraded by the action of microorganisms existing in nature, such as bacteria, molds and algae, and finally completely degraded into carbon dioxide (CO2) or / and methane (CH4) Mineralized inorganic salts of water (H2O) and its elements and plastics of new biomass. Therefore, "degradable plastic" is only "degradable plastic" and is equal to "fully biodegradable plastic".

So "all biodegradable plastic" is the real environmental protection plastic!