Plastic bags are not accepted in green bins because plastic does not decompose and is considered to be trash, which does not belong in the finished compost product. At the Miramar Greenery facility, compostable and biodegradable bags also do not consistently break down, are difficult to sift out, and result in contamination that decreases the quality of compost. The finished compost should be free of contamination and of good quality for use on soils.
The researchers suggest that standards need to be developed for compostable, biodegradable and oxo-biodegradable materials, such as clearly outlining appropriate disposal and the rates of degradation that can be expected.
The lack of consumer education about the differences between compostable, biodegradable and oxo-biodegradable materials and where to properly dispose of them, coupled with a lack of facilities to deal with their decomposition, further challenges the notion that these products are better for the environment.
But that should not be the end of the conversation. We need to challenge the single-use product model itself.
As resistance to the plastic epidemic swells and cities and countries carry out bans against single-use plastic products worldwide, we need to carefully consider the implications of this research study. At the heart of the issue remains a key question: is the single-use, throwaway model sustainable in the first place?
“The problem is not just plastic: it is mass disposability. Or, to put it another way, the problem is pursuing, on the one planet known to harbour life, a four-planet lifestyle. Regardless of what we consume, the sheer volume of consumption is overwhelming the Earth’s living systems.” - George Monbiot, We Won’t Save the Earth With a Better Kind of Disposable Coffee Cup
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Last year, someone tweeted at Starbucks to request they replace their plastic coffee cups with cups made from corn starch. This tweet was retweeted over 60,000 times before being deleted when someone raised a big red flag: those who were supporting this call failed to consider the environmental impacts of producing corn starch. As it turns out, an enormous amount of land needs to be cleared to grow it, displacing food production. Growing corn is also notorious for causing soil erosion and requires heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers.
At this stage in the game, it might be beneficial for us to carefully consider what comes after plastic. The impacts of growing and harvesting raw materials, producing the single-use item in a factory and shipping it all over the world just so someone can use it once and throw it away needs to be picked apart and examined.
Humans living in capitalistic societies have a tendency to unleash products on the world without giving much thought as to, you know, whether or not there are facilities available to properly deal with that compostable bag. Or effective ways to collect these single-use items in the first place - technically we have recycling facilities for plastic bags, and yet plastic bags continue to find their way into the ocean. So clearly it’s not just a matter of infrastructure.
Is the problem with the material, or with a model of consumption that relies on disposability and the infinite production of stuff?
“People have to buy less. Our economy is based on endless growth, endless production of what our landfills tell us is basically junk. The stuff wouldn't be in them if it wasn't junk…our economy is already failing us in the way it messes up the planet in the service of all this crap. The cycle just keeps going: manufacture, consume, discard.” Daniel Hoornweg, Canada’s Dirty Secret
Perhaps models that privilege reuse over single-use are a bigger part of the solution than simply pumping out a “better” kind of disposable product.
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