Welcome to another Trash Talking Friday, the only trash talk that worked with Scarface and did not get scared!
Each week, I send you Ideas to ponder about. Ideas that have the potential to change your life, and hopefully help you become a better human being by understanding yourself.
This week I talk about, 1) bio-plastic 2) terracotta products 3) plastic roads
Let’s get right into it!
Green Washing & Myth Busting:
The entire world seems to be wanting to move towards living a more sustainable zero waste life. Well may be not the entire world but many on social media networks such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter are definitely looking to make the change! Great news, right? Yes and no!
Yes, because people are looking to make the switch and wanting to live a lifestyle which is driven primary by conscious purchase and consumption decisions. No, because many of these decisions are based on flawed information that in many cases may make you feel greenly great, but the impact of these choices are far from what you envision them to be.
So, this week’s newsletter is all about bursting some bubbles.
Bioplastics:
Oh, I have switched to biodegradable plastic, oh, you should use compostable plastic it’s great for the environment and it’s made of plants! Every time I hear these statements, I turn green like the HULK! Let me break this down for all you sweethearts. This is what we call green washing, where the marketing and messaging is meant to touch the emotional green corners of your heart but in reality, your purchase decisions based on this green washed information are doing more harm than good.
Firstly, whether bio-degradable or compostable it’s still bloody single use! In fact, it propagates and promotes the use of single use materials such as spoons, straws, plates, take away containers by playing on your conscious and giving you a false sense of guilt free consumption. You may think that since it is plant based, biodegradable or compostable you can just chuck it in your back-yard composter or simply hand it over to your garbage man or may be even just throw it on the ground as it’s natural and will degrade into mud! This is as farfetched as me claiming to be the father of Elon Musk! Here are the reasons why this new age material is not all that it claims to be:
Require industrial composting units to decompose: PLA the most commonly used bio plastic is made from carbohydrate sources such as corn or sugarcane and this material melts at 320 degrees Fahrenheit. Our home composting units reach temperatures between 110 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit which is not hot enough for the material to start decomposing. The other challenge is maintaining these temperatures in your back-yard composter, which requires considerable effort and honestly is not something that is possible unless you are dedicating a fair part of your day in monitoring your compost bin and its temperature. Hence an industrial composting unit with a controlled environment is required to degrade this material in aerobic conditions (In presence of Oxygen).
India severely lacks industrial composting facilities: Most of it ends up in landfill dumps (Globally) where it stays for centuries not degrading due to lack of oxygen and giving out potent methane gases.
They contaminate recycling streams: Bio-plastic cannot be recycled with convectional oil-based plastic and if mixed contaminate the entire recycling stream increasing wastage and costs associated with segregation and processing. This is vital as most waste collectors don’t know the difference and often mix this waste with plastic, specially your garbage bags.
Moral issues with production: Can we afford to use vast amount of land for crops such as corn for production of bioplastics when India has alarming number of children under the age of five who are suffering from malnutrition? Further the sugar used to make bioplastic comes from transgenic crops (genetically modified crops) sprayed with herbicides and pesticides.
Here is what one of many experts has to say:
“They are basically the same as plastic and don’t decompose in the way most people think they do,” said Rebecca Burgess, CEO of City to Sea, a UK environmental nonprofit that was formed to reduce plastic in the oceans. “They often end up as rubbish littering our streets and oceans and killing marine life. Bioplastics are a ‘false solution’ as they are single use and there are limited options to compost them… Reducing the amount of single-use packaging we use is the only solution.”
At the end of this article I have provided recourse for you to learn more about this.
Terracotta/Khamba Pots:
Here is another misconception, that just because it’s made of mud it biodegradable and great for the environment. Another green wash marketing tactic used to sell home composting units, flower pots and glasses to serve tea! Here is the truth about Terracotta.
Terracotta is not bio-degradable: Terracotta is made by firing clay, which makes the product impervious to water and air, changes its chemical composition which makes clay hard. Terracotta can never be reshaped again. Even if you break the product and turn it into powder, it will not mix with soil.
Bad for the soli: In fact, because its non-biodegradable, it will adversely impact the natural properties of soil, making it less fertile by depriving it of nutrients and reducing its water content.
Lasts centuries: Terracotta is immune to natural degradation; hence you keep finding historical artifacts around the world intact made of terracotta.
Made of Top Soil: These products are made of top soil which is the most fertile part of the soil and should be only used for the purpose of growing food.
Plastic Roads:
Dr. A Vasudevan a chemist from the Thiagarajar College of Engineering
Madurai invented and patented the process of using end of life low or zero value plastic waste in the process of road construction. The technology is simple and requires collecting, cleaning and washing and shredding the waste in uniform size, post which it is melted at 166 degree Celsius and blended with the bitumen.
Of late social media has been celebrating this breakthrough as a miracle that will help the world get rid of their plastic problem with many projects across the country utilizing plastic waste in road construction and celebrating it. As with bio-degradable plastic, this too gives consumers a fall sense of hope. Here is why this not recycling, nor is it good for our environment.
Highly toxic & polluting: Many studies have showed that heating plastic release high amounts of toxic emissions such as carbon monoxide, crolein, formic acid, acetone, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, toluene and ethylbenzene. This is particularly dangerous for workers laying the roads as they are exposed to these fumes. We all know how road construction takes place in our country and have seen first-hand the state of affairs of individuals working in this sector.
Low value economically not feasible: Most of the end of life plastic bags used in this process are low quality, non recyclable with little market value. As majority of the collection here in India is done by the unorganised sector and there is little financial incentive for them to collect and segregate this waste. Further, even though bags under 50 microns have been banned in India, they continue to be produced and used in local markets in both rural and urban areas. By incentivising this practise, we are incentivising the demand for such manufacturing and giving this waste value for the wrong reasons.
Micro-plastic: Just because its buried under a layer of bitumen does not mean it’s not there and will not cause any harm. As the road breaks down so does the plastic in it into small pieces of micro and nano plastic. This waste then seeps through into our ground water table, is washed away in drains and rivers with the help of rains and eventually ends up contaminating both our soil and water bodies.
There are many more such green wash marketing gimmicks which I hope to be covering in subsequent articles in the near future (one of them being the Zero waste lifestyle). As of now what is important is we start moving towards the path of realising less is more. One way of doing this is to pause and think what will happen to the product once it reaches its end of life. As consumers we have to continuously educate ourselves so that in our search for doing good we don’t end up causing unintended harm.
Hopefully the last few newsletters have provided you with enough information to make educated decisions and I along with google are always a few clicks away to answer any question that you may have (google will be a lot quicker).
Remember, the strongest voice you have is in your wallet. If enough people start voting with their wallets things will change a lot quicker than you can imagine. The bloodline of any organisation is its cash flow, disrupting it from the outside with purpose will force change to take place.
A fashion is nothing but an induced epidemic. (George Bernard Shaw)
Until we meet again next week, have a fantastically sustainable weekend!