One may argue that we being a predominantly a company dealing in paper, our ideas may be skewed a little .We certainly will not deny one bit but fact remains embedded in science and there is no gainsaying that wood is a better raw material than plastics in many applications IF and only IF environmental credentials are considered.
However, there are many applications where plastics cannot be substituted with wood or where plastics score much higher points in cost – benefit analysis if renewability, sustainability and bio degradability takes a back seat in the process of decision making.
Ultimately, whether wood is more sustainable than plastic depends on the application it is being used for, and how it’s sourced, produced and managed on a product or item case by case basis.
In our present context we would like to talk about BIO- DEGRADABILITY of plastics vis a vis Paper mainly in packaging.
Since plastics comes from NON RENEWABLE feedstock in petrochemicals such as crude oil and natural gas (Fossil fuel) it tends to fare worse environmentally at the waste management, disposal and bio degradability.
Plastics once produced remains on earth FOREVER.
It does not degrade and can only be recycled but that too a very small percentage of total plastics produced every year.
Net result: quantum of plastics on earth will not deplete with passing years rather it will keep piling up with every Ton of plastics produced … in land fill, rivers systems, paddocks, forests, oceans… every where.
If not controlled, that day is not very far when earth will become a pile of plastics.
Plastics also may present issues to human and animal health in terms of leaching of BPA and other chemicals used in plastics plus potential issues with micro and Nano plastics, which may be ingested by land and marine life and through food chain by humans.
Again, proponent of plastics may argue that “ Bio- Degradable” plastics is the solution we all should look forward to . The idea of Bio degradable plastic suggests it would degrade to “little” or nothing over a period of time .
Recently (2nd May 2019) Research scholar – Isabel Thomlinson of Centre for Sustainable Chemical technologies, University of Bath, UK published a report under heading” WHEN BIODEGRADABLE PLASTIC IS NOT BIO DEGRADABLE” as below.
“This is the sort of claim often made by plastic manufacturers yet research has revealed supposedly bio degradable plastic bags still remain intact after several years spent either at sea or buried underground.
So UN –DEGARDED were these bags that they were still able to hold more than 2 kg groceries.
The study’s authors, Imogen Napper and Richard Thompson at the University of Plymouth, tested compostable, biodegradable, oxo-biodegradable, and conventional polythene plastic bags in three different natural environments: buried in the ground, outdoors exposed to air and sunlight, and submerged in the sea.
Not one of the bags broke down completely in all of the environments tested.
In particular, the biodegradable bag survived in soil and sea almost unscathed.
This may come as a surprise, but the reality of “biodegradable” plastic does not yet meet our expectations. There are different types of biodegradable plastics, which offer different degrees of degradability and generally require specific conditions in order to do so.
Plastics are made of very long molecules called polymers, which can consist of many thousands of atoms linked together in a chain. The sheer size of the molecules gives plastics their well-known properties – solid, strong, tough, flexible.
Many of the plastics we use every day are reluctant to react with other chemicals, and this is why they’re so durable. But this durability is also why plastics pose a serious problem when they get into places they shouldn’t be – such as the ocean.
Degradable – to a degree
Plastic defined as “biodegradable” is made of molecules that can break down naturally, but there is no particular timescale specified for this degradation – under some conditions it can take many years.
Some biodegradable plastic is also said to be “compostable”, and in this case it must adhere to stricter standards. One example is polylactide (PLA), which is used to make food packaging. Compostable plastic certified to European Standard EN13432 must break down under industrial composting conditions in less than 12 weeks.
An industrial composting plant supplies the necessary balance of heat, moisture, air and microorganisms to efficiently compost food and other compostable waste. But with a need for temperatures of 60°C or more, these are not conditions that can be provided by being buried in the ground or in a compost heap at home.
Plastic utensils made from biodegradable starch-polyester material. Scott Bauer/USDA
Crucially, neither the terms biodegradable nor compostable imply anything about the material’s ability to break down quickly in a natural environment.
In the study, the compostable plastic bag disintegrated exposed to the air and in the sea, but was still present buried in soil after more than two years. These plastics are generally not designed to degrade without special treatment, which means when leaked into the environment as litter – as demonstrated by the Plymouth study – they can be as harmful as typical plastics derived from fossil fuels.
There is no international standard for home compostable plastics, although national standards have been established in Austria and Belgium.
The other type of degradable plastic tested was made from oxo-biodegradable plastic. These are conventional plastics, but they contain additives which, after an appropriate time delay, allow the plastic to react with oxygen which breaks it down – speeding up the degradation reactions that would otherwise take place over hundreds of years.
But these plastics are also somewhat controversial, as evidence suggests that they do not biodegrade completely as their manufacturers claim, but instead break down into micro plastics, which may persist in the environment. As a result, the EU is taking steps to restrict the use of these plastics.
The rise of bio-plastics
The ubiquitous nature of plastics worldwide means we need to switch to making them from biological sources if we are to end our dependency on fossil fuels.
There is some evidence that producing plastics from plants has a smaller negative environmental impact than making them from crude oil. But as has been seen with biofuels, this poses new problems through use of land that could otherwise be growing food crops. This is likely to improve as bioplastic industrial processes and more efficient technology become more established. Feedstocks, such as food waste, could also be used.
What is sure is that a solution is needed soon. Currently, around a third of plastic packaging worldwide ends up in the environment – and so without significant changes, there will be more plastic by weight than fish in the oceans by 2050.
Paper – wherever possible offers the best solution because it is RENEWABLE, SUSTAINABLE, BIO DEGRADABLE and environment friendly .