Sustainable plastic alternatives can drastically reduce damage to the environment!
(Reading time: 3 to 4 minutes)
Regardless of exhaustive campaigns to convince people to avoid the use of regular plastic, it is still available worldwide. So it's about time to ban plastic from the face of the Earth and replace it with so-called sustainable plastic. Read more.
After being used, plastic goes to landfills and, worse, to streets, parks, forests, rivers, lakes, oceans, etc., causing irreparable damage to the environment!
Campaigns to ban plastic are worthless because plastic is still largely used all over the world. It seems people cannot measure the damage plastic makes to the environment as well to all living beings.
So, what is the best solution to replace this “bad plastic”?
The best solution is to replace regular plastic with green - or sustainable - plastics. They degrade faster and can dissolve entirely when on the water, leaving no microplastics at all.
Sustainable plastic: to save the environment!
Biobased plastic or bioplastic
Plastic made from ethanol - from sugar cane - that produces polyethylene, allowing complete recycling.
Compostable plastic
Plastic is made from organic waste becomes natural fertilizer after use. It is necessary, however, to be aware that compostable household and industrial plastics are different. Because of this distinction, beware of "greenwashing".
Oxybiodegradable plastic
This kind of plastic degrades faster than any other plastic. Moreover, it leaves no microplastics at all, contrary to biodegradable plastics.
Plastic from cassava starch
During this plastic's production, ozone gas processes the starch, a substance that degrades completely after use. It is also more resistant than any other plastic. Like cassava, starch can be extracted from other vegetables, such as corn, potatoes, soybeans, and rice.
Plastic with RNA
The polylactide (PLA) is a polymer present in all biodegradable plastics. As above mentioned this type of plastic leaves microplastic after being disposed of. Therefore, researchers at the University of Twente in the Netherlands have discovered a technique that rehabilitates PLA.
Given that water destroys the biological RNA - ribonucleic acid - molecules, scientists were able to insert RNA into the longer PLA.
"Once inserted, the RNA that makes up 15% of the plastic, allowing PLA to completely break down in seawater in just 2 weeks!" said Timo Rheinberger, one of the discoverers of the revolutionary technique.
Plastic mulching
Mulching is the name of a polyethylene-based plastic that is largely employed by many farmers when covering the soil of crops in order to prevent the growth of weeds, as well as save water.
Mineral plastic
Mineral plastic turns out to be a foam-shaped plastic that is proper to protect buildings and houses from noise, heat, cold, and even fire. Unlike common foam, this plastic is fire-resistant.