Plastic trash has become one of the most visible global environmental crises of our time. Single-use plastics make up nearly half of all plastics produced, with 15 million metric tons of plastic now entering the ocean annually — equal to two garbage trucks dumping their loads into the sea every minute. Plastics are everywhere: Found pole to pole, in clouds, drinking water, the stomachs of whales and seabirds, with bigger pieces degrading into centuries-lasting, often toxic micro- and nanoplastic particles that make their way into food and the human body — including our brains, breast milk and testicles. With the next, and hopefully final, U.N. global plastics treaty negotiations set for a year-end meeting in Busan, South Korea, developing nations suffering the brunt of the crisis are calling for limits on plastic production. But industry groups propose a different solution that would allow single-use plastics production to continue apace: compostable and biodegradable bioplastics. But as Mongabay recently reported, emerging research shows that bio-based plastics — made from corn, sugar beet, sugarcane, cellulose and other organics — can be just as toxic as petroleum-based plastics. Now, a new report from Beyond Plastics, an NGO, makes a strong case that “biodegradable” and “compostable” plastics not only fail to live up to their sustainable promise — they could be harming ecosystems, farms that source bioplastic-contaminated compost, and people. A garbage truck prepares to dump its load within view of a beach at Azua, Dominican Republic. There are no legally binding federal standards for…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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South Africa Today – Environment
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