Did you know: Plastic is Biodegradable?

It’s true, ask Greta.

It took me 30 years of life to learn that the term ‘biodegradable’ doesn’t have a concrete timeline on it. Vegetables can biodegrade in one week, aluminum cans can biodegrade in 50–100 years, with plastic bags biodegrading in the 500–1000 year range.

BĪ-(ˌ)Ō-DI-ˈGRĀ-DƏ-BƏL

Capable of decaying through the action of living organisms.

Plastic will biodegrade, but in 1000 years. Plastic is not compostable. This is the adjective we need to pay more attention to.

KⱰMˈPⱰS-TƏ-BƏL

Under a managed composting program, the product must 1) break down to carbon dioxide, water, inorganic compounds, and biomass at a rate similar to paper, 2) disintegrate into small pieces within 90 days, so that the original product is not visually distinguishable in the compost, and 3) leave no toxic residue.

This definition meets D6400 composting standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).

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The main difference between the two forms of decay is human involvement. Biodegradability does not factor in any help from our species. Compostability on the other hand, requires it. Whether it is a back yard compost pile, or a commercial composting facility - oxygen, moisture & temperature are three main components controlled by us in the composting process.

Did you know that a lot of the products we see labeled as ‘compostable’ can only properly compost in a commercial composting facility? Even then there is a good chance these items will not fully decompose by the 90 day compostability timeline.

These products require higher temperatures, oxygen, and moisture content than available in your average landfill or backyard pile. So while they may eventually decompose into nothing but it’s bioplastic components (starch, cellulose, sugar…etc), they are taking up valuable landfill space in the meantime.

Think about it this way:

Number of Starbucks stores in Canada: 1,607

• 2.8 million people in Toronto/37,797,496 million people in Canada
  = 7.4% of the population lives in Toronto, THEREFORE

• *Assume roughly 7.4% of the 1,607 Starbucks stores are here too
  =119 Starbucks stores in Toronto

• Let’s conservatively assume that 200 people go to each Starbucks a day and get a hot drink.
  =119 Starbucks stores x 200 insulated cups
  =23,809 cups used

THAT’S A LOT OF CUPS HEADED TO TORONTO LANDFILLS EACH DAY*

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*Starbucks does not use compostable cups, but it is their intention to by 2022. This example was used to suggest scope.

According to the 2018 Ontario Waste Management Association Landfill Report, Ontario’s available landfill capacity is expected to be exhausted in 14 years, by the year 2032, so we better get composting, right?

NO — because the City of Toronto does not own the appropriate machinery to compost these ‘compostable’ items.

The city of Toronto has three separate streams of waste. Garbage, Recycling & Organics — The last two of which are considered as options for Diversion from landfill. The city’s waste app TOwaste, which I do find useful, recommends you place these ‘compostable’ items (cutlery, cups, etc.) in the garbage. Why not the green bin?

The City of Toronto’s facilities are only capable of processing decomposing organic matter, no bioplastics. When your green bin contents arrive at one of [their] two organic facilities, all organics are screened for foreign objects (including these ‘compostable’ items, as well as all the diapers, parents) which are then sent to landfill. What’s leftover undergoes anaerobic digestion.

If the city is telling us to not put bioplastics into the green bin, then why are we told to put majority content polypropylene (a plastic) diapers into the green bin?

After speaking to a contact in the industry, it’s mostly for the Diversion numbers. Sure, they are initially diverted to an organics facility, they go through a shredder, a gram of poo flies out, then they are sent back to the landfill. Think of all the carbon dioxide produced hauling this waste around.

This doesn’t make sense. You are doing your best Toronto, but can we not do better?

All of this research began because I wanted to understand what would happen to the single use plastic alternatives I wanted to suggest to clients — as I would not suggest items that did not have a net positive effect on the environment. The further I dug, the scarier the reality became.

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We need a more transparent waste system so that people understand the effects of their daily consumption and spending happens. Almost everything we buy will end up in one of these streams of waste — we need to think before we throw. I understand that you may just be more confused after reading this, but I hope to clarify over time. All I’m asking is that we not be satisfied with things as they are presented to us. Look into your city’s waste management system — all may not be what it seems.

Happy to discuss over coffee ;)