Paper Example on Biodegradable Plastics: Environmental Benefits, Costs, and Regulations

Introduction

Plastics play a significant role in the lives of people as a result of its functions primarily as a unit of a carriage. Plastics are polymers which are carbon-based and are obtained from petroleum products. They are composed of long carbon hydrates chains that are repetitive in structure. In ensuring that the unit of a carriage is availed, there are two types of plastics which can be manufactured to suit the carriage need. This includes the biodegradable and non-degradable plastics which are named as results of their abilities to break down. Biodegradable plastic is a type of plastic that has natural decomposition in the environment. This happens when the microorganism in the surroundings metabolize and reduce the plastics' structure. The product formed is less harmful to the environment (Lenz & Marchessault, 2005. In contrast, the non-biodegradable plastics which are commonly used on a daily basis across the world are manufactured from the non-renewable sources like coal and oil. The non-biodegradable plastics include the plastic food packaging; plastic bags plastics, on the other hand, are made of bioplastics which are manufactured from the renewable raw materials and the plastic eating utensils. The non-degradable plastics take an approximate time of over hundreds of years to breakdowns accompanied by the emission of harmful gasses. Getting rid of the plastics has been one of the tedious tasks which present a swamp, with the challenges in the method of dispositions. This essay aims at outlining on the advantages of biodegradable plastics in a broader spec focusing on the environmental benefits, the cost, and the regulation.

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In understanding the importance of biodegradable plastics benefits on the environment, there is the urge to know how it is manufactured. This type of plastics is a compostable material that can decay on the integration with soil. This is because it takes a short period of time to decompose fully. One of the raw materials that are used in the manufacture of this plastic is the natural material that is referred to as corn starch which bares market names such as the ever corn and nature works. These materials are famous for the environmental credits that are associated with the manufacture of biodegradable plastics. The cornstarch materials are absorbed slowly by the water and swell up resulting in the disintegration into small pieces that can be digested by the plastic readily (Flieger et al. 2003). However, it is not all types of plastic that can complete decompose and fragment being fed by the microorganisms. Unlike the non-biodegradable plastics which produces more than 8 tons of carbon which affect greenhouse an, biodegradable plastics produces way less than a half of the emission. This kind of emissions is dangerous as it can result in the global warming effect which affects the overall weather and climatic patterns.

One of the benefits accrued to biodegradable plastics is less carbon emission on the environment. As a result; they play a part in the reduction of the green gas emission. This is achieved in the manufacture of the biodegradable plastics whereby the polylactic acid (PLA) is a product of the plants that absorb carbon dioxide. The plants, in turn, release the stored sugars as starch. The starchy is gathered and used to build dextrose which is fermented by the help of a particular bacterium that forms the PLA building block. The carbon dioxide in plants in the air is converted into useful plastic. Fleuron is a product of PLA and a specific bioplastic combination at low levels to improve on the performance and add value in the renewable, material. In the application for the recovery of energy, the renewable materials will release the carbon dioxide taken by the plants into the aim at the short carbon cycle, in contrast to the petroleum plastics that release carbon instead. This shows that the application of non-biodegradable plastics results in a reduction of green gas emissions by 75%.

Biodegradable plastic is a remedy to the environment on the many compost and pits used to damp the plastics. As a result, this reduces the potential volume and masses of the municipal waste that would be collected. The biodegradable plastics are compostable, which can be gathered and collected alongside with the food scrap and debris collected from the yard as a compost heap. This kinds of plastics are advantageous to the environment as they reduce the amount of waste to be discarded therefore fewer landfills to be filled. As a result, more land can be put under use by applying other activities such as residence and settlement, agriculture as well as industrial investments. The method of such areas would be helpful to society as it would reduce the under-utilization of land, therefore, effect more utility that has a direct benefit to the community. Extensively, this kind of plastics minimizes the amount of liberal garbage since it is renewable. This is because the plastics can decompose and be sued as garden or agricultural fertilizers after the biodegradation process, which can help save on the amount of money that would have otherwise been invested in the purchase of fertilizers. In this case, the farmers have a higher advantage by application of the decomposed plastics in their farms to grow various plants after a short period of usage to the society. In case the biodegradable plastics are used, there would be no need to use the landfills since they are readily biodegradable and can compose to humus part of the soil, therefore, be absorbed by the earth.

It is estimated that the plastic wasted accumulation is one of the major crisis not only facing the land band but also the seas and oceans. Plastics compose more than 13% of the waste which implies that over 30 million tones of plastic waste are deposited across the globe. However, amidst the high production rate of the plastic products, less than 9 percent is recycled back to the environment (Andrady, 2003). This is an implication that most of the waste ends up in the landfills. The greatest challenge is that some of the plastic waste is non-degradable which takes quite a lot of time to decompose. On the other hand, the biodegradable plastics take less time to break down in case of being dumped in the landfills (Gross & Kalra, 2002). This reduces the piles up in the landfills as most of it gets decomposed over a short period. In contrast to the other plastic which does not compose, they take time to break down, therefore, makes a lot of space through the deposited material which adds up the pressure on the earth as a result of the elements comprising of the plastics.

Biodegradable plastics play a significant role in the conservation of non-renewable resources such as oil and petroleum products. The non-biodegradable products, in contrast, are materials manufactured from the non-renewable sources that may be exploited as a result of continuous usage. As a result, there is the need to conserve their use of the products. Petroleum products are considered as non-renewable products as they are obtained from the fossils fuels which are stored I the underground aquifers in specific areas. This resources are not common in the in every area but are limited to some areas, which explains the reason to some countries and regions being well endowed with fuel fossils, whereas others lack this resource. As a result, such areas may experience difficulties in and challenges in the production of such plastic as they are secondary ion other nations.

The biodegradable plastic, like any other type of plastic, is recyclable. This is an additional benefit to the environment as they reduce the umping on the surroundings. This minimizes the dumping as a plastic bag can be reused and recycled to meet another need. For instance, a biodegradable plastic bag used for carrying something can be cleaned and recycled several times before it is discarded. Similarly, they are less toxic to the environment as they do not release any harmful chemicals to the atmosphere. This is in the case of the burning this type of plastics as it has less harmful emission and chemicals to the environment.

Over the past decades, polylactic acid (PLA) materials which are used in the manufacture of biodegradable plastic has captured the attention of a lot of people with the preference to the petroleum-based plastics. Since the application of green technology produces it, it takes less time in the manufacturing period. The biodegradable plastics are in preference because they are cheap compared to the non-biodegradable plastics. This is as a result of their mode of manufacture, which relies on the fermentation of the corn which results to the formation of sugar and lactic acid and alters the development block for the PLA (Nonato, Mantelatto & Rossell, 2001). The non-biodegradable plastics, in contrast, are expensive as they depend on the polymerization of long carbon hydrates chains to form the plastic substances. The process proves to be costly and lengthy with the high mechanization involved. Extensively, it requires the application of high energy with the supply of heat necessities in the polymerization process which makes the process more expensive. This can be related in the high amount of energy that would be required to heat and break the long chains of carbon in the synthesis of the process to prepare the synthetic plastics.

The regulations in Canada are pursuing the use of biodegradable plastics in the food packages. This is as a result of the pollution in the public spaces and as a result of the landfills that are filling at a high rate (Pettipas, Bernier & Walker, 2016). The authorities have identified that the non-biodegradable plastics have an impact in the environment as less of it is recycled. The government in Canada has embraced the green technology which is helping in the promotion of a sustainable environment. In support of this, there is an increase in demand that the synthetic polymer bags should be banned. This includes the production and the use of the non-biodegradable plastics since the value of the plastics that can decompose is growing in importance every day.

Conclusion

Biodegradable plastics technology should not only be embraced in Canada but also across the globe. This is because of its numerous environmental benefits as discussed and its cost-effectiveness. As the world adopts the green technology, the application and utilization of these plastics would help reduce the global warming effect that would otherwise have catastrophic impacts.

Reference

Andrady, A. L. (Ed.). (2003). Plastics and the Environment. John Wiley & Sons.

Flieger, M., et al. (2003). Biodegradable plastics from renewable sources. Folia microbiologica, 48(1), 27.

Gross, R. A., & Kalra, B. (2002). Biodegradable polymers for the environment. Science, 297(5582), 803-807.

Lenz, R. W., & Marchessault, R. H. (2005). Bacterial polyesters: biosynthesis, biodegradable plastics and biotechnology. Biomacromolecules, 6(1), 1-8.

Nonato, R., Mantelatto, P., & Rossell, C. (2001). Integrated production of biodegradable plastic, sugar and ethanol. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 57(1-2), 1-5.

Pettipas, S., Bernier, M., & Walker, T. R. (2016). A Canadian policy framework to mitigate plastic marine pollution. Marine Policy, 68, 117-122.