By: Ame Fall and Jamal Anaele

Plastic Alternatives- Biodegradable Materials

What ARE biodegradable materials?• Biodegrading is the chemical breakdown of materials by the environment.

Biodegradable matter is matter that can be broken down by the environment when it is thrown out. Compounds such as oranges, cotton and wood are easily broken down by the environment, and are therefore not harmful to the environment in any way. Materials that are made up of polymers like plastic are likely not to decompose in the environment for several thousands of years. This causes concern because plastics are dumped and thrown out millions of time each day. As a community, we can strive to create plastics alternatives that serve our needs but also are biodegradable. Certain scientists have already created this. Hydro-biodegradable plastics and Oxi-Biodegradable plastics are the two plastics that decompose naturally in the environment. Oxidation and Hydrolysis make it possible for the products to shrink in size. This drastically reduces the time it takes to biodegrade though the exact time sometimes varies. It will take more time and testing from scientists to perfect the biodegradable plastics, but new ideas and solutions are brainstormed everyday.

What are all the types of materials that can be used to replace regular plastic?Well…did you know that currently most plastic is made from petroleum when it can also be made from…

CornLiquid wood extracted from paper-makingSugar

Which are all biodegradable materials!

How will these new plastics compare with the old ones?

Petroleum based plastics…• Contributes to 80% of

roadside and 90% of ocean litter

• Kills more than 100,000 birds and marine life each year

• Take 25% of landfill space, thus increasing of disposal and landfill use

Biodegradable plastics…

But aren’t there many disadvantages to biodegradable materials?

• MYTH: Biodegradable plastics are too expensive compared to traditional plasticsFact:

• MYTH: Biodegradable plastics will decompose before I finish using themFact: Biodegradable plastics will only break down under the presence of sunlight, soil, and micro-organisms. In other words, Biodegradable plastics and paper have similar characteristics and will essentially have the same reaction to the surrounding environment. So if you can use it with paper, you can use it with Bio-plastics

• MYTH: Biodegradable plastics are exceedingly expensive when compared to traditional plastics, and therefore are not practical for most applicationsFact:

What you can do at home

Quiz!