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Facts

Plastic Facts

Environment:

• Traditional plastics compose 80% of roadside and 90% of ocean litter.
• Each year, plastics kill more than 100,000 birds and marine life.
• Yearly waste has reached almost 30 million tons of plastic in the US alone.

Sustainability:

• Traditional plastics are both polluting and unsustainable.
• Because of depleting oil supplies, prices for traditional plastic are increasing due to their large use of petroleum. (Production of traditional plastics consumes 2.5 billion barrels of oil annually.)
• Traditional plastics take up 25% of total landfill space, causing the price of disposal and landfill use to greatly increase.

Bio-Plastics Facts

Biodegradable Plastics

Biodegradable plastics are plastics that degrade naturally, but are not necessarily good for the environment.  Many companies claim their biodegradable plastics to be “green”, but are, in reality, harmful to the environment.  Most plastics categorized as biodegradable, actually decompose into toxic or polluting materials.  To be a truly “green” material, the plastic must be classified as compostable.

Compostable Plastics

Compostable plastics are plastics that break down into water, inorganic compounds, carbon dioxide, and biomass at the same rate as known compostable materials such as wood, leaves, or paper.  The current standards require compostable plastics to decompose 60-90% within 3-6 months, its decomposed materials indistinguishable and nontoxic.  BDP’s products are genuinely “green”, compostable plastics.

Bio-Plastic Myths & Truths

Myth 1: All biodegradable plastics are good for the environment.

Truth: Many plastics marketed as “green” do not meet the standard for compostable plastics.  Many of these plastics break down into toxic chemicals destroying water tables, contaminating arable land, and ruining ecosystems. 

Myth 2: Biodegradable plastics will decompose before the end of the application’s lifecycle.

Truth: False. Biodegradable plastics will only break down under specific conditions including the presence of sunlight, soil, and micro-organisms.  Biodegradable plastics and paper have similar characteristics and will essentially have the same reaction to the surrounding environment, so if it’s good enough for paper it’s good enough for bio-plastics.

Myth 3: Biodegradable plastics are exceedingly expensive when compared to traditional plastics, and therefore are not practical for most applications.

Truth: BDP has broken new ground in bio-plastics pricing.  Our technologies enables us to produce superior quality products competitive prices compared to traditional plastics. A major advantage to marketing and selling green products is the gain that comes from improved customer impressions -- often companies that spend a little more on green technology see an increase in sales as a result of their improved green image.

Myth 4: Biodegradable plastics are weaker than traditional plastics and fail easily under stress.

Truth: BDP’s specialized materials, including PLA and Poly-Vinyl Alcohol (PVA), together with its unique manufacturing process produce plastics significantly stronger than other bio-plastics.  In applications such as grocery bags and laundry bags, where most bio-plastics tear, BDP’s bags perform at the same level as traditional plastics.

Myth 5: Biodegradable plastics are similar to bio-fuels in that they will raise food prices through overconsumption, thus adversely affecting the world’s food markets.

Truth: Bio-plastics require less than 10% of the agricultural resources used by bio-fuels.  Furthermore, BDP’s technology is extremely flexible in that it can incorporate any type of starch in its plastics including industrial grade starch from corn, potato, sweet potato, and other resources.  Therefore, if corn prices increase too much, BDP can apply potato starch in its stead.  These technological balances minimize the effect of bio-plastics on food markets.

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