Should All Plastics be Biodegradable?

885 Words2 Pages

Should All Plastics be made to be Biodegradable?

Background Information

Plastic plays a huge role in our lives due to its ability to be functional in all aspects of everyday life. Statistics Canada showed Canadians in average produced 13.4 million tonnes of waste and 73% was sent for disposal. Of the 27% that was recycled 17% of that was plastic, while the rest ended up in landfills. The logical solution for the plastics in landfills unable to degrade is biodegradable plastics. However, are biodegradable plastics the answers to the addiction to plastic people have? Arguments have been made on whether the pro’s of biodegradable plastics outweigh the cons and if biodegradable plastics will truly make a difference in our environment.

Survey Results

Chemistry Connections

Thermochemistry is the study of the energy changes that accompany physical or chemical changes in matter. Biodegradable plastics can be further studied through how these plastics can be broken down into the environment. Biodegradable plastics in order to properly degrade and fulfil its purpose needs a specific environment, specific environments that can only be met at specific recycling areas. These plastics require heat, moisture and oxygen to be able to break down in an open system, however; often times these biodegradable plastics are sent to landfills which are not able to provide the requirements the plastics need, being an isolated system. Section 6.2 factors affecting reaction can be applied to biodegradable plastics as certain factors will affect the reaction between the microorganisms that help break down the plastics.

Opinions

I do not think all plastics should be made biodegradable, because of the cons which outweigh the pros. Although biodegrad...

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... with many bacteria that can be washed away into the soil, and could be hazardous to the environment, people and wildlife.

Another positive aspect in biodegradable plastics is the economy benefits. Regular plastics use oil for production process and due to the increase in the need for oil bio degradable plastics is a better solution to regular plastics. As the costs of oil increases as the planets natural resources are quickly dwindling down the cost of making regular plastics will increase and by creating plastics with less oil, fewer expenses will have to be used for the production. Furthermore, with biodegradable being recycled in proper facilities will decrease the amount of plastic going in landfills, which can be expensive for maintaining proper care. Therefore, biodegradable plastics will not only be better or our environment but for our economy as well.

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