The Truth About Plastics That End Up In Landfills
Photo by zibik on Unsplash
We all try to do our part when it comes to trash. We’re taught at young ages to reuse, reduce and recycle to minimize the amount of waste we produce. But has it made a difference?
About half of all trash still ends up in landfills. A lot of that trash is plastic.
It can take one plastic bottle 1,000 years to decompose. But most plastics don't biodegrade, instead they break down into smaller and smaller pieces of plastics called microplastics.
What’s so harmful about microplastics? Well, the average person consumes 70,000 microplastics each year. And furthermore nanoplastics, which can enter cells and potentially disrupt cellular activity.
As more research is being done to understand the harmful and long term effects of ingesting microplastics we are seeing some disruption within reproduction, digestion and organ inflammation.
Plastics in landfills can also have devastating impacts on the environment. As rainwater flows through layers of plastic and junk it can absorb water-soluble compounds to create leachate, a potentially high polluting liquid that collects and brews in landfills. If this liquid trickles into the soil, streams, and groundwater, it could poison major ecosystems and wildlife.
When diving deep into the harmful effects of plastic in landfills, it becomes more and more imperative that we find solutions beyond the elementary notion of reuse, reduce and recycle.
That’s where BioNatur Plastics comes in. Our organic additive blend has been tested using ASTM D5511 standards, meaning our plastics truly biodegrade in a landfill environment by microorganisms that naturally occur in a landfill. The end products resulting from the biodegradation process are natural materials such as inert humus, methane and CO2.
BioNatur plastic uses an organic enzyme to attract naturally occurring anaerobic bacteria in the landfill to digest the enzymes and break down the large plastic molecules into smaller organic molecules that the bacteria then recognize as food. They then digest these smaller molecules and continue the process until the plastic is fully biodegraded, typically in 5-10 years (instead of the 500-1,000 years of standard plastic).
If we truly want to see a change in the impact of our plastic waste, we must pledge to make substantial changes to more than just our behaviors. BioNatur is committed to being the change we want to see. Join us in taking the first step with our revolutionary Stretch Bundling Film. We call this our hero product because it will have the highest ability to impact change being that 91% of all stretch film waste ends up in landfills.
Our other truly biodegradable products include Centerfold Bags, Separated Bags, Center Slit Gusseted Tubing, Perforated SLeeves, Gusseted & Flat Bags, Single Wound Sheeting, Perforated Sheets, Centerfold Sheeting, Tubing, and Bags on Rolls.
Learn more about our stretch film and other truly biodegradable products here: https://www.bionaturplastics.com/science.