I've been reading a report from Penn University all about degradable plastics. Here are a few facts and figures which leapt out at me:
- 46 billion lbs of plastic waste is produced each and every year
- of that, only 3% is recycled - 1.38 billion tonnes, leaving 44.62 billion tonnes of plastic waste every year
- one million tonnes of plastic waste ends up in the ocean each year
- degradable plastics cost around six times as much as non-degrading plastics - mainly because of research costs and the economics of the smaller market
- degradable plastics make up a vanishingly small proportion of the plastics we use - 4% of the US output by 2006
- plastics, degradable or not, contain multiple toxins including plasticisers, colourings, stabilisers, and heavy metals including cadmium and lead. Both non-degradable and degradable plastics release these as they break down, though of course degradable plastics do this quicker.
- degradable plastics do not break down in landfill: they behave like regular plastic
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