Degradeable Additives Provide Poor End-of-Life Option For PET Packaging

Degradable Additives to Plastic Packaging: A Threat to Plastic Recycling

Degradable additives are marketed as an environmentally responsible alternative to conventional plastic packaging, and some brand owners and opinion leaders have embraced them. Closer inspection reveals that degradable additives provide no real environmental or societal benefit, and put significant investments in truly valuable recycling infrastructure at risk. Ostensibly these additives allow the plastics to break down under certain circumstances. In reality, degradable additives are a significant threat to the plastics recycling industry and may actually be worse for the environment. NAPCOR and the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers oppose the use of degradable additives in recyclable packaging. Here’s why:

  • Containers with degradable additives potentially contaminate the plastic recycling stream
    • Recyclability claims are not data driven—they have not been adequately tested or supported
    • Recyclability claims may be misleading under the Federal Trade Commission “Green Guides” defining environmental marketing claims
    • Degradable additive manufacturers have not demonstrated “no impact” on the life span and functionality of the products made with post-consumer plastic. Premature failure of durable products that use recycled content (e.g., carpets, transportation strapping, or pipes) has economic repercussions and poses potentially serious health and safety concerns
    • End-use market value may be affected by uncertainty related to potential degradable additive content in recycled plastic
    • Degradable additives are impossible to detect either visually or with existing recycling technology, so once they are in the recycling stream they cannot be sorted out
  • Containers with degradable additives run counter to key principles of sustainability and environmental stewardship
    • Promoting degradation of packaging that would otherwise be recycled wastes energy—the energy embedded in a plastic package is conserved when that package is recycled, but lost when the package degrades
    • Packaging with degradable additives is not suitable for composting, even industrial composting; if packaging does break down it adds no nutrient value to its surroundings
    • Degradable additives do not reduce litter or marine debris—the additives take significant and variable time to break down, so impact on litter is minimal; when plastics with degradable additives break down, they break into small plastic particles that may be even more problematic for marine life than plastic packaging itself
    • Degradable additives actually generate methane—a powerful greenhouse gas—when they break down. Using recycled plastic instead of virgin reduces greenhouse gas emissions

More than 1.6 billion pounds of post-consumer PET were recycled in 2011 through an extensive infrastructure of domestic reclaimers and end-users. This infrastructure depends on quality post-consumer materials that command good market value. Additives with unknown consequences put the entire system at risk, and for no sound environmental or economic reason. Please join NAPCOR in opposing the use of degradable additives until proponents prove they do not threaten plastics recycling or recycled products.

 

More Resources: 

NAPCOR Press Release: Degradable Additives (PDF)

“Proposed laws would require ‘not recyclable’ labeling on biodegradable plastic containers” Plastics News, April 4, 2013
Laws proposed in North Carolina and Alabama could require containers made from biodegradable or compostable plastic to be labeled non-recyclable.  full article

“(California) Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Sues Plastic Water Bottle Companies over Misleading Claims of Biodegradability” (link to California Department of Justice Press Release, 10/26/11) 

Update on California Bill SB 567 (restricting plastics end-of-life claims)California Governor Jerry Brown signed state Senate Bill 567 into law on October 9, 2011. The new law expands a current law, and will restrict the use of potentially misleading end-of-life labeling claims (compostable, degradable, biodegradable) on all plastic products, regardless of plastic type or item.

Under the law, end-of-life claims must be verifiable using ASTM standard specifications (or other standards deemed equivalent or better). Labeling that implies that a plastic product will break down, fragment, biodegrade or decompose in a landfill is prohibited under the law (unless a relevant standard, as defined in the law, can substantiate the claim). Current law: PRC §42355-9 (html page) Revised: SB 567 (pdf file) 
 
FTC “Green” Guides 
The proposed revisions to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Guides for Environmental Marketing Claims, “Green” Guides, are expected to be finalized and issued shortly. The revised Guides state that degradable claims must be qualified (as to what portions of a product or package will degrade and how long it will take) unless marketer can substantiate that the “entire product or package will completely breakdown and return to nature within a reasonably short period of time.” The Guides disallow unqualified claims about items destined for landfills because decomposition will not occur within one year. See “Summary of Proposal” (pdf file) or summary of FTC process (html) with links to full text. 
Relevant Studies and Links
 
NSF International (1/5/2011). Aquamantra NSF PET D5511 Test Results Final Report (html) 
 
 
Of the over 2,000 U.S. landfills, only about a quarter currently capture and utilize the methane generated. See the Environmental Protection Agency’s information page on this subject.  
 
Degradable Additives Positions
The following organizations have either come out with a strong position against use of degradable additives, or urge caution in weighing environmental and recycling claims as they relate to use of these additives. Links are to relevant statements or related information. (This is a partial list only.)
Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR): http://www.plasticsrecycling.org/about-us-main/gr

Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov/osw/wycd/catbook/debate.htm

Southeast Recycling Development Council (SERDC), first item under “Recent Successes”: http://www.serdc.org/

Association of Oregon Recyclers: http://aorr.org/degradable_additives.html?utm_source=AOR+Contact+List&utm_campaign=734025dad3-AOR_Listserve_111611&utm_medium=email/

Bioplastics Council (a special interest group of SPI) :http://www.plasticsindustry.org/BPC/Publications/content.cfm?ItemNumber=3765&navItemNumber=3779

European Plastics Recyclers: http://www.plasticsrecyclers.eu/press?content=degradable&commit=Search

Northeast Recycling Council (NERC), under “NERC’s News”: http://www.nerc.org/

New Mexico Recycling Coalition (Board voted to support position against degradable additives, November 2011)