Biodegradable – 4 Products, Innovations and You

This article will go through Biodegradable products, innovations and how you can minimise your waste.

What does biodegradability mean?

Biodegradable means: Decomposition by bacteria, living organisms and microbes thereby avoiding pollution. No ecological harm was caused during the process.

Plastic Trail

Plastic first starts as crude oil,(fossil fuel), which is then processed and heated into what we use every day, plastic. Plastics have been an integrated part of human consumption. Which in turn impacts the environment – including marine life, animals, the ocean and the land.

When we say biodegradable we want an eco-friendly solution to unsustainable products. We want to know that we are not leaving a plastic trail behind us.

What role do you play as a consumer?

Consumers and the products we buy

As a consumer when purchasing products we don’t think about the packaging or bag but rather the product itself, leaving a wasteful outlook. Once we have the product whatever packaging is used is disregarded until the next time when the plastic bag has been bought again.

Have you thought about what you are buying? Are the packaging and products biodegradable?

Once single use plastics start to decompose they leave microplastics in their trail. Which then enters the oceans, lands, food chain and water supply. Which in the end affects us as we are eating and drinking plastic contaminated products.

Have you thought about your plastic consumption?

It takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill. Plastic bags do not break down completely but they instead become microplastic that absorb toxins and continue to pollute the environment. Most of us count it lucky to live to 100 but yet we are leaving a carbon footprint behind that will be here for future generations, 10x longer than we will live for.

If you look in your kitchen, could you count more than 10 items that have biodegradable packaging on them? This is pure proof that plastic has become an integrated part of human consumption.

Products and innovations you can use that are biodegradable

From household items to Sanitary products, these products are ‘biodegradable’.

• Recycled toilet paper – ‘Who Gives A Crap’ is a recycled toilet paper company that makes 100% recycled toilet paper, not only that but the packaging is made from paper, which means there is no plastic involvement at all.
• Beer bottles – Bottoms up for Biodegradable Beers – The Danish company Carlsberg created bottles made of the biodegradable wood fibre. Moving towards green alternatives is the way forward.
• Sanitary Pads: Green, Clean, and Affordable – A company called Saathi Pads have created disposable sanitary pads which are made from banana fibres and are completely biodegradable. Sanitary Products like pads and tampons create a lot of waste. There have been efforts to create innovative sanitary products such as silicone cups and fabric pads but it still raises the question of ‘is it biodegradable’?
• Bamboo straws – Made from 100% biodegradable materials, in comparison to the plastic straws we have been using.

Source

To conclude, as you can see, the article states new and innovative products that are biodegradable. You can live in a more eco-friendly way without the cost to the earth. Now, what product are you going to swap? Toothbrush? Toilet roll? For me, it has to be a plastic bag for a cotton tote bag.