Degrading, or decomposing, material produces all kinds of gasses including, methane and CO2. One of the arguments against biodegradable packaging is that when it ends up in a landfill it produces more methane than plastic. Green Home consulted some waste-management and compost experts to address this question.Methane traps 21 times more heat in the atmosphere…
Two men are serious about junk. So serious that they have built a raft made out of junk and are rafting from California to Hawaii to raise awareness about the problem of plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean. The Junk Raft (yes, that’s what it’s called) is a 30 feet x 20 feet, 1.5-ton raft…
Last weekend, I was at The Secret Garden party in the U.K. and it was so inspiring to see the emphasis on making it a green event. There were compost toilets, solar-powered stages, vegetarian and organic stalls and, best of all, ALL the food stalls at the festival were using biodegradable take-away containers. The move…
Polystyrene (PS) is an issue for a number of reasons: – PS production involves the use of benzene and other suspected human carcinogenic (cancercausing) substances (styrene and 1,3-butadiene).- PS leaches styrene and nonylphenol, both of which are known endocrine disrupting chemicalsand should therefore not be used for food packaging.- PS is not usually recycled because…
The health effects of plastic have increasingly been questioned. PVC was one of the first plastics to be shown to leach harmful chemicals. Pthalates from PVC actually move from the plastic (be it wrapping, clothing, a child’s toy or a medical blood transfusion bag) and contaminate what it is touching. Pthlates have been proven to…
Researchers at Polytechnic University in New York are developing a fuel-latent plastic which could, potentially, allow bioplastic to be recycled into biodiesel. After use, the product can be placed in a converter where enzymes break it down into biodiesel that can be used as fuel. “Polytechnic University has a long history of innovation, and…
According to research being carried out by a team of scientists based at Newcastle University, carbon dioxide could, in the future, be used to produce biodegradable plastic bags, paint stripper, solvents, and even batteries! According to an online magazine, Business Green, the research team have “developed a catalyst that greatly increases the energy efficiency of…
Bill Bryson, author of ‘A short history of nearly everything’ and ‘Notes from a small island’, has declared war on litter and recently published an article in The Times calling on manufacturers to produce biodegradable packaging. Bryson also suggested in this article that, ” we should consider a tax on retail materials that are especially…
