What are the unique features of renewable material plastic bags compared with fossil based material plastic bags? What are the definitions of recyclable plastic bags and degradable plastic bags? What is the difference between degradable plastic bags, renewable plastic bags and recyclable plastic bags? Today, Chuang Yilian packaging, a professional flexible packaging manufacturer, offers you a popular science essay to interpret these popular environmental protection words one by one.

Renewable material plastic bag vs fossil based material plastic bag

To figure out what is a renewable material plastic bag, we first need to understand what is a renewable resource.

Renewable resources refer to the resources that can reproduce, grow and regenerate continuously to keep up with the speed of consumption, continuously maintain or expand their reserves and can be reused by human beings under the specific space-time conditions of nature. Forests, soils, grasslands, wetlands, solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, animals, plants, microorganisms and various natural biological communities are all renewable resources.

Renewable material plastic bags are plastic bags made of materials produced by relying on such renewable resources. Generally, such materials can be rapidly manufactured or produced, or replaced or supplemented through biological and other natural processes to keep up with their use speed. Wood, paperboard, paper and pulp are widely used renewable materials. As long as effective sustainable forestry management is adopted, the continuous supply of wood can be realized and the normal operation of human society can be supported.

The plastic bags of fossil based materials refer to the plastic bags made of materials made from the limited fossil resources on the earth. Oil, natural gas, coal, mineral deposits or organic fossil deposits belong to fossil resources and are not renewable in the short term; The production materials processed from such resources, such as glass, plastic, metal, etc., are fossil based materials.

Recyclable material plastic bag

Recyclable material plastic bag, as the name suggests, refers to a plastic bag made of recyclable materials that can be recycled after recycling. Common recyclable materials in life include paper, paperboard, glass, plastic, metal, etc. Among them, paper and paperboard take into account the dual characteristics of renewable materials and recyclable materials.

Recyclable materials play a great role in energy conservation and environmental protection. The data show that one ton of waste paper can produce 850 kg of recycled paper and save 3 m3 of wood; Waste PET plastic bottles can also be recycled and processed into yarn, which can be used as fabric materials in furniture, automobile and other industries.

Degradable plastic bag

In recycling, there are two common concepts: biodegradable and compostable.

Biodegradable plastic bags refer to materials that can be completely decomposed into natural components by biological methods. The definition of biodegradable plastic bags in EU standards is that 90% of biodegradable plastic bags can be finally decomposed into carbon dioxide, water and minerals within 6 months with the assistance of bacteria, fungi or other simple organisms.

Compared with biodegradability, composting is a higher standard: improve the efficiency of biodegradation by controlling humidity, temperature and oxidation process, and require substances to be finally decomposed into completely non-toxic components. The whole process is environmentally sound. It can be seen that compostable plastic bags can be biodegradable, but biodegradable plastic bags are not necessarily compostable.

Most industrial wastes, including traditional plastic bags, degrade for a long time under natural conditions, some of which take hundreds or even thousands of years, causing great harm to the environment. Wood and paper are typical biodegradable plastic bag materials. Compared with traditional plastic bags, they are obviously more friendly to the environment.

According to incomplete statistics, more than ten million takeout copies are sent out every day, of which plastic packaging products are widely used. Considering that the degradation of a traditional plastic bag will take at least 400 years, more and more consumers are calling for renewable and biodegradable plastic bags to replace traditional plastic packaging bags.