Chennai, India generates hundreds of tons of plastic waste
every day. Plastic bags like the ones used at take-out counters in local
restaurants are used briefly and then discarded. Eventually, this plastic waste
finds its way to landfills, where it can remain for hundreds of years.
"We have spoiled the
entire world with plastic," says T.S. Shankar, Director of Biotech Bags. His Chennai company has yet to turn a profit,
but Shankar prides himself on making bags from what CNN
calls "the world's first 100% biodegradable plastic."
Biodegradable Plastic Bags
Biotech Bags cost
more, but clients such as Kentucky Fried Chicken in Mumbai are willing to pay the
higher price. The environmentally-conscious owner of Sangeetha Restaurants also
wants customers to understand how Shankar's technology works, and prints a brief
description of it on the bags themselves.
As customers can learn while enjoying a quick meal, Biotech
Bags contains an enzyme that acts as a catalyst when the material comes into
contact with soil. Within six months, the plastic bag degrades completely and,
according to CNN, leaves no "toxic" residues behind.
Compostable Bioplastic Bags
Shankar's technology is impressive, but other entrepreneurs are
replacing petroleum-based plastics altogether. BioBag is a U.S. and Canadian company that
makes shopping bags, commercial liners, and packaging films from plants and
vegetable oils instead of polyethylene
(HDPE, LDPE, and LLDPE).
Because micro-organisms that live in the soil consume plant-based
materials, BioBag products are both biodegradeable and compostable. The
company's claims comply with California law as
well as ASTM D6400, a
standard specification for the labeling of plastics designed for aerobic
composting in municipal and industrial landfills.
Government Regulation and Job
Creation
California isn't the only place that regulates "green
marketing", and cities like Los
Angeles aren't the only municipalities that restrict or even ban plastic
bags. Here in Quebec, shoppers in the town of Deux Montagnes (Two Mountains), must ask for papier or bring their own recyclable
bags. In other Canadian communities, plastic bags are available for a small fee.
According
the Plastic Bag Ban Report, U.S. communities from
coast-to-coast are following suite. In recent months, cities like Santa Fe, NM
and villages like Great Barrington, MA have banned thin-film, single-use
plastic bags. At the same time, Cereplast - another California
company that makes bioplastic bags - may need to boost production to meet
international demand from India and Italy.
Petroleum-Based Plastics and Carbon
Nanotubes
In Australia, researchers at the University of Adelaide have
developed a nanotechnology
process that could trump the efforts of companies like Cereplast, BioBag,
and Biotech Bags altogether. Using what Dr. Dusan Losic calls
"nanotechnological recycling," professors at the School of Chemical Engineering
have found a way to convert non-biodegradeable plastic bags into carbon
nanotubes.
Hundreds of times stronger than steel, carbon nanotubes are
comparatively lightweight materials with unique electrical, mechanical, and
thermal transport properties. Today, applications include electronics, energy
storage, wind turbines, and sensors. By recycling polyethylene plastic bags
into nanomaterials, applications could also include filtration and biomedical
products.
Plastic Bags and the Environment
So are plastic bags ever "good" for the environment? The
petroleum-based products from Biotech Bags may not pollute the soil, but do the
compostable bioplastics from BioBag and Cereplast truly enrich it? If these biodegradable, compostable plastics
wind up in landfills alongside other, harmful materials, how much is gained?
As manufactured products, all plastic bags require energy -
and some of these energy sources may cause pollution. At the same time,
manufactured products come from workplaces where employees earn paychecks and
spend money that supports other industries and the people who work there.
Could recycling plastic bags into carbon nanotubes help the
environment - and perhaps the economy - most of all? Or does our a continued
reliance on disposable products inevitably lead to more pollution, especially
in fast-growing parts of the developing world? I look forward to your
comments.
About the
Author: Doug Sharpe is the President of Elasto Proxy, Inc. (Boisbriand, Quebec, Canada), supplier of sealing
solutions and custom-fabricated rubber and plastic parts to a variety of
industries, including green power.
| 
Re: Plastic Bags and the Environment: It’s Not That Simple
"Almost" Good Answers: