{"id":30662,"date":"2011-07-08T19:00:38","date_gmt":"2011-07-08T17:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rss.nova-institut.net\/public.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bpiworld.org%2FBPI-Public%2FNews%2FArticle.html%2F648027"},"modified":"2015-12-01T11:33:58","modified_gmt":"2015-12-01T10:33:58","slug":"biodegradable-products-are-not-major-contributors-to-methane-emissions-from-landfills-as-claimed-in-527-est-article","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/biodegradable-products-are-not-major-contributors-to-methane-emissions-from-landfills-as-claimed-in-527-est-article\/","title":{"rendered":"Biodegradable Products are not major contributors to Methane Emissions from landfills, as claimed in 5\/27 ES&amp;T article"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A North Carolina State University study, published online in the May 27 issue of Environmental Science &amp; Technology (ES&amp;T), leaves the impression that \u201cbiobased biodegradable products\u201d potentially generate large amounts of methane when they are landfilled. The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) believes that the headlines and conclusions of this work are inappropriate.<\/p>\n<p>There are two fallacies in the article\u2019s arguments.<\/p>\n<p>First, the author, James Levis, leads the reader to believe that since a biobased material will quickly biodegrade under aerobic conditions, such as composting, that it will also do so under the anaerobic conditions found in landfills. This is not the case.<\/p>\n<p>Composting is designed to promote rapid aerobic biodegradation by optimizing the moisture, temperature and feedstocks in the compost piles. Landfills are largely <i>anaerobic<\/i> and the microbial population in them differs significantly from that of a compost pile. We know that within a few months, products made from polylactic acid (PLA) will biodegrade rapidly and completely under composting conditions. However, research shows that this is not the case for PLA under anaerobic conditions. The chart below shows that very little biodegradation of PLA takes place under standardized testing.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"At the end of 160 days, biodegradation has not started for any of the test samples.\" src=\"https:\/\/rss.nova-institut.net\/Resources\/Pictures\/MethaneChart_1_png%5B1%5D.png\" alt=\"At the end of 160 days, biodegradation has not started for any of the test samples.\" width=\"450\" height=\"309\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.natureworksllc.com\/the-ingeo-journey\/end-of-life-options\/landfill.aspx\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.natureworksllc.com\/the-ingeo-journey\/end-of-life-options\/landfill.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Testing for other \u201ccompostable\u201d resins shows much the same result-limited biodegradation under anaerobic conditions.<\/p>\n<p>Second, biodegradable products make up a miniscule portion of the solid waste stream. Today, the projected annual market sales for all \u2018compostable\u2019 resins in North America are approximately 100,000 tons. \u00a0By comparison, the EPA\u2019s Solid Waste Characterization for 2009 shows US generated:<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>25.9 million tons of Paper and Board<\/li>\n<li>33.4 million tons of Food Waste<\/li>\n<li>13.3 million tons of Yard Trimmings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Source: Table 3 Chap. 2:\u00a0\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/epawaste\/nonhaz\/municipal\/pubs\/msw2009rpt.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/epawaste\/nonhaz\/municipal\/pubs\/msw2009rpt.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>One can see that the volume of \u201ccompostable\u201d resins is dwarfed by the millions of tons rapidly biodegrading paper, food and yard debris that the US continues to landfill every year.<\/p>\n<p>Oddly, the ES&amp;T article does not mention Dr. Barlaz\u2019s prior work, <i><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Estimation of Waste Component-Specific Landfill Decay Rates Using Laboratory-Scale Decomposition Data<\/span><\/i>, published in 2010.<\/p>\n<p>In this study, Dr. Barlaz explored the kinetics of biodegradation of different feedstocks. One of the conclusions of his research: eliminating all food and yard waste can reduce the total landfill methane production by 30-35%.<\/p>\n<p>The BPI believes that the May 2011 ES&amp;T article should have focused on the key contributors to greenhouse gases and should been titled \u201c<i><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Food Scraps and Paper: The Root Cause of Methane from Landfills.<\/span><\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">A More Logical Conclusion<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Rather than maintaining the current status quo of solid waste handling, the BPI believes the real issue is to prevent putrescible materials from being landfilled in the first place. Communities should work to recycle food scraps and wet unrecyclable papers in managed compost facilities, where they will be converted aerobically into useful soil amendments, or send to anaerobic digesters, where the methane can be captured much more safely than in a landfill.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe we can learn something from our neighbor\u2019s to the north. Today 25% of Canada\u2019s population has access to residential collection of food scraps.\u00a0 After only a few years of operation, today these organics recycling programs are diverting approximately 12-15% of Canadian food waste.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the BPI shares Dr. Barlaz\u2019s concern for the growing number of \u201cbiodegradable\u201d claims, for products that are typically landfilled. Many of these claims are spurred by additive suppliers that would like consumers to think that it is OK to throw products in the trash, as they will somehow magically disappear.<\/p>\n<p>The National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau (NAD) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have repeatedly determined that these types of claims are misleading. Moreover, the BPI has conducted three anaerobic biodegradation tests on plastic products with \u201cbiodegradable additives\u201d. At the end of 60 days, little or no biodegradation was evident. Further, the tests indicated that no biodegradation could be anticipated in the future. You can find these tests starting at the link below:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bpiworld.org\/BPI-Public\/News\/Article.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.bpiworld.org\/BPI-Public\/News\/Article.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The BPI applauds those responsible marketers who are making efforts to convert packaging products and products so that they can be effectively diverted from landfills through composting and recycling, rather than following the Siren\u2019s call of \u201cbiodegradable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Steven A. Mojo<br \/>\nBPI Executive Director<\/p>\n<p>July 5, 2011<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A North Carolina State University study, published online in the May 27 issue of Environmental Science &amp; Technology (ES&amp;T), leaves the impression that \u201cbiobased biodegradable products\u201d potentially generate large amounts of methane when they are landfilled. The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) believes that the headlines and conclusions of this work are inappropriate. There are two [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[],"supplier":[2296,2718],"class_list":["post-30662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","supplier-biodegradable-products-institute-bpi","supplier-north-carolina-state-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30662"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=30662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}