"All biodegradable products are made from natural, organic materials!"

FICTION.

While biodegradability is a property inherent to many organic materials, though not all biodegradable products are made from renewable resources. Some petroleum-based plastics can be biodegradable and can even biodegrade in home compost.

"All bio-based plastics are biodegradable!"

FICTION.

It is important to understand that the nature of the raw material is not directly connected for it to biodegrade. An examples of bioplastics but non-biodegradable plastics include bio-PE and bio-PET. Since these have the same chemical structure as their petroleum based cousins, these are not biodegradable and should be recycled like conventional PET.

"If a product is biodegradable, I can throw it into the environment and it will disappear on its own!"

FICTION.

Firstly, throwing waste into the environment is never a good idea. Secondly, biodegradability is a very broad term and does not automatically mean that a product will degrade in any environment. Degradation is dependent on factors such as temperature, time and the presence of bacteria and fungi in the specific environment.

"Biodegradability is a quick solution!"

FICTION.

Biodegradation takes quite a bit of time. How much exactly, is very dependent on the environment. In industrial composting facilities, materials will biodegrade within 6 months, but in open environments, it will take much longer, often at least a year or several years. And if you wait for hundreds of years, even “durable” plastics will start to degrade. Biodegradation is not always biodegradation – details are important.