Biodegradable Products – Understanding the Truth

This is an article which I pulled while surfing and which I believe is good for us to know so we can make a more informed choice.

Biodegradable products should be good for the environment, but that’s not always the case. What Is Biodegradable? To be classified as “biodegradable”, a product must be able to be broken down naturally into the raw materials of nature and disappear into the environment.

Truly biodegradable products will break down into: -Bacteria -Fungi -Simple organisms -Carbon -Hydrogen -Oxygen – Carbon dioxide Co2 and water H2O Just because a product says its biodegradable, doesn’t mean it’s good for the environment. With no real guidelines available to aid consumers, many products may say they are biodegradable – and be technically telling the truth, since they’ll eventually break down into nature (say, in about 30 years) — but most consumers expect a product to be “green” when touted as biodegradable.

Being Biodegradable Isn’t Always Safe. Many biodegradable may break down in a reasonable amount of time (weeks or months), only to become hazardous to animals, humans and plant life afterwards. Take nonylphenolethoxylate (NDE), for example, an active ingredient found in many of today’s cleaning supplies. Made solely of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, it should be completely biodegradable and safe for the environment. Yet, it isn’t. Once broken down, it becomes a dangerous benzene ring that is hazardous to women, damaging their reproductive organs.

How Long It Takes Is Another Factor. Another concern is how long it takes a product to break down into the environment. A piece of bread, for example, is completely biodegradable, and can break its complex sugars into simple ones within days, compared to paper, another completely biodegradable product which can take up to 5 months to degrade, even under perfect circumstances. Another problem: our disposal procedures. When put into a natural compost pile, table scraps will degrade rather quickly.

Left compacted amidst tons of garbage in a landfill, it can take years to break down. Researchers have found 25-year old apple cores and newspapers in near perfect condition, found in landfills with garbage from thousands of other households. Finding ways to better dispose of biodegradable materials will help in the breakdown process, making it quicker, easier and safer.

How long does it take for many so-called “natural” products to return to a natural state:

-Paper: 2-5 weeks

-Banana peel: 3-5 weeks

-Orange peels: 6 months

-Cotton rags 1-5 months

-Cigarette butts: 1-12 years

-Plastic or cardboard milk carton: 5 years

Any product that comes from nature ‘ plants, animals, and minerals — will eventually return to nature, given enough time and the right circumstances. But man-made petrochemical products cannot. There simply aren’t any microorganisms found in nature that can break them down, leaving them to litter the earth for centuries to come.

What is JASA Eco? - Part 2

In Part 1, I talked about the material and some of the features of the product. Now comes the question of what it truly means to ''Go Green'' and also how JASA Eco wants to go about this.

First comes the question of biodegradability. Now, that is indeed what we are selling our product on. However, what does 'biodegradable' actually mean? I posed this question to a couple of people and the answers were varied. Some just did not know, and one person said that it is when products can be 'recycled'. My favourite description is that the product will ''vanish'' over time. Despite our population becoming more educated, there is genuine misinformation out that as to what these environmental terms actually mean.

The definition of ''Biodegradable'' is when something is capable of being degraded by bateria or micro organisms. Now that is the Oxford English Dictionary definition, which is all well and good. As most things produced are Carbon based, it is by definition biodegradable. This would include plastic products. Hang on you say, that can't be right. Now, we look into the time frame.

The reality is that every piece of plastic made since 1909 is still around, unless it has been burnt, which only contributes to carbon emissions, as well as the emissions of more noxious gases into our atmosphere. It would take more than 500 years for it to return to it's original form, which is petroleum. However, by then, we will be gone and our children will be gone and our children's children etc. A bit late isn't it? So what is the standard?

In the US and in Europe, the acceptable standard for biodegradability is within one year. JASA Eco takes it further. The time it takes for JASA Eco to breakdown is just under 6 months upon disposal. Now, it's not like fruit, vegetables and meat which rots after just a few days. As it has been processed, it takes longer to break down after disposal, and it will not breakdown in your cupboard or kitchen drawer. Despite this, the product will become brittle after a while due to it's composition, so do not keep it too long after opening the product from it's package.

Now you may say six months is a little long. However, if you compare that to 500 years, there really is no comparison. In order for a product to be functional and yet environmentally friendly, it needs to be sufficiently sturdy. As a result, the material is modified to increase the strength of the products. At the same time, JASA Eco products will break down under the right conditions into biomass, water and carbon dioxide. So please remember the best practice of proper disposal. If you are a person who recycles at home, dispose of JASA Eco products with your food waste as it would aid the breakdown process.

Moving on, when we talk about ''Going Green'' or a ''Green'' product, it does not necessarily mean a product which is biodegradable or one that does not use plastics. A ''Green'' product is judged accordingly to a couple of criteria: Carbon Footprint, Use of Renewable Resources, Impact on the Environment, Sustainability etc.

Let's talk about another biodegradable product, paper products. Paper bags, plates, bowls and cups are all common use and the reason why people choose them over plastics is because it is biodegradable. Well, that is what people think anyway. Firstly, paper products have a profound impact on the environment, and a huge carbon footprint overall. The reason for the large carbon footprint is simple: Paper is made from trees. To make more paper products, we have to cut down more trees which creates more environmental problems than it solves. By comparison, JASA Eco is made from a renewable resource, which happens to be corn. Corn is planted to be consumed, and if it is not, it is wasted as it is perishable. However, trees take years to grow and mature and unless paper companies plant more trees than they cut down, there is no way to offset their impact on the environment.

In the next entry, I shall be talking about sustainable practices and also misconceptions of so-called ''Green'' products available in today's market, including the so-called ''biodegradable supermarket plastic bag''.