Biodegradability

Petri Sihvonen

I was walking in the forest in my childhood scenery. My aim was to find some berries and mushrooms. Instead of these treasures of the Finnish nature I found something disturbing. Bright plastic peeped from the bush. With closer observation I noticed that it was a lemonade bottle from the 80`s. I picked it up and it almost looked brand new. It had been in the forest more than 30 years but natural conditions had not been able to degenerate it. That was an awakening experience for me.   
​
Usage of goods made from plastics have increased rapidly for many years. At the same the amount of plastics found from the nature has increased alertly. Before the age of plastics most of the material was taken from the nature. Natural fibers from plants like cotton, linen, hemp and animal fur and skin and wood were used to make everyday goods. Even though these goods ended up in nature after usage they weren’t lying there for centuries unchanged, but disappeared. Ingredients returned to the nutrient cycle of the nature, they biodegraded.  

Biodegradation: A natural process

Biodegradability is a word that is becoming more and more popular in everyday language and advertisements.  To understand right what is going on we need to carefully study what that fashionable word means. Biodegradation is a natural process. It happens when some material ends up into nature. For example leaves of the trees fall to the ground. There the degradation organisms, bacteria, fungi and vertebrates start to eat dead leaves. Sunlight and water softens and helps break leaves to smaller pieces. Chemical reactions finish the work and soon the leaves disappear. They turn into water, carbon dioxide, nutrients and minerals. Those are then available for the plants to grow new leaves.     
 
The principal sounds simple. Natural material biodegrades itself by nature. Materials that have been made by modifying raw materials chemically or artificially are harder to burn for the degeneration organisms. Like 'that lemonade bottle from the 80`s. It is made of plastic. It was made to be durable, water and air proof. But at the same it was made to resist natural decomposing process. It should not have ended up into nature, but unfortunately it did. That happens more and more often to plastic items. Especially in undeveloped counties. Plastics degenerate slowly and when they do so, they break into very small pieces forming so called micro plastic. Plastics are found everywhere on the earth. It is one of the biggest pollution problems in the world.  
 
Is there hope? 

People and companies are starting to open their eyes and realize that we need to find more environmental friendly options to make and pack our daily products. Biodegradable products are one possible solution to reduce plastic pollution. There are several products made of natural ingredients that can replace plastic ones. For example; Disposable plates and cups can be made of starch. Potato, corn and wheat are the most common sources of starch. (https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1074-potato-plates)  Wooden composites can be used to manufacture packing materials. Companies have a competition on making environmental friendly products, because people value them more. Whoever invents a material that has the same properties than commonly used plastics can have huge advantage in markets.  

Some manufacturers have already started to use the word biodegradable in their advertisements even though the product may not really be biodegradable. To fight against disuse of that word, authorities have developed standards that prove biodegradability of the product. Finnish Standards Association gives standards to products that meet the criteria of biodegradability. (https://www.sfs.fi/en) US authorities have their own certificate system. (http://www.bpiworld.org/BPI-Public/Program.html)  

All of us should reduce use of the plastics and choose biodegradable products. When doing so rely only on certified products.  

References:

Biodegradable Products Institute 2017; http://www.bpiworld.org/BPI-Public/Program.html

Finnish Standards Association 2017; https://www.sfs.fi/en

Science Learning Hub, Published 16 December 2008, Updated 9 February 2017; https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1074-potato-plates

​Soran Faisal Khdr 2013; https://www.slideshare.net/soranrawandzes/biodegradation-59792055