In his article Compostable and "Biodegradable" Plastics Provide False Sense of Responsibility, September, 2009 ( http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/compostable-and-biodegradable-plastics-false-security.php ) the author, Adam Lowry, notes an increasing trend in the use of biodegradable plastic in products such as cups and cutlery. He goes on to disapprove of the use of all such products, which are made of polylactic acid and are commonly referred to as PLA plastic. His argument suggests that since PLA products must be composted in order to properly biodegrade, by using them we are giving a false sense of responsibility that we are doing good for the environment when we really aren't, because they may not get composted. He also says that without composting infrastructure, these products are no better than ordinary plastics.
On this front, Lowry makes a connection between PLA’s providing a false sense of responsibility, and failure of the products to make their way into composting systems. But he does so without giving any statistics or supporting evidence to show how often or seldom they are actually composted. One could ask, what percentage of these products aren’t being composted?
He refers to one restaurant in the San Francisco area that uses PLA products, and even admits that these are likely to be composted because San Francisco has mandatory composting laws. But he also suggests that this solution only works because this restaurant happens to be in the only city (in the U.S.) with such laws. Does this mean PLA products in other areas are some how less likely to make it to compost?
Again he has failed to provide any evidence to support his argument, and actually provides an example where PLA products are proving to be an effective way to reduce waste. This is where one of the failures in Lowry’s argument comes from. He takes a stand against the use of PLA products in general, without considering the possibility that they would be able to be composted in any number of different specific areas. I will later show how this is indeed the case.
In the final two paragraphs of his article, Lowry, a designer, goes on to comment that we need to look at a broader model from a designer’s perspective. He suggests that a better model, in which material specification and recovery are coupled on a national or global basis, would lead to the following positive outcomes: more composting infrastructure would develop, and a transition to more biomaterials would result. Lowry fails to recognize that these positive trends are already occurring! This, despite his opening sentence noting the increased use of PLA products! He also fails to recognize that these trends support the further use of PLA products. More households in Canada are using composting programs. According to the Households and the Environment Survey, 27% of Canadian households composted in 2006, compared to 23% in 19941. From 2000 to 2004, the amount of organic waste that was composted in Canada increased by 70% to 1.7 million tonnes2. The average Canadian diverted 51 kg of organic waste from land fills by composting in 2004, compared to 32 kg in 2000. This increase in Canada can be attributed to the introduction of new composting programs and the expansion of existing organics collection programs to accept food wastes3. As the Composting Council of Canada points out on their website (http://www.compost.org/compostinggrowsstronger.html), there continues to be an increase in Canada in the number of cities that include composting programs, such as with curbside pick up, in the number of Canadians who participate in composting, and in the amount of compost materials diverted from land fills, across almost all regions of the country. And as Sarah Amandolare notes in her article, interest in composting has surged in San Francisco, with the amount of compost materials being collected having risen by 15% in recent months, while many restaurants are already avid composters4.
So while Lowry spends time looking for broader, global solutions to waste management, PLA products, coupled with ever-increasing involvement in composting programs, offer an immediate means of reducing waste.
References:
1. Statistics Canada, 2007
2. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/16-002-x/2008001/10540-eng.htm
3. IBID
4. Amandolare, California's Compost Law Could Spark New Trend,
September 10, 2009, http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/environment/2009/sep/California-s-Compost-Law-Could-Spark-New-Trend-.html
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I definitely agree with how you critically reviewed this article. While the author does try to give valid reasons as to why these PLA products aren't as great as they seem, like you said, he shows no evidence (including no statistics)concerning how frequently they are actually composted. I also agree with your ideas about his San Francisco restaurant argument. Just because this restaurant has to legally compost, doesn't mean other restaurants without the same law won't compost. His argument essentially contradicts himself. Your statistics on composting in Canada are great in the sense that they give concrete proof that if composting is increasing, then these PLA products actually have more of a chance of being composted.
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