'Environmentally friendly' dishes damage marine environment - study
"While you may be calming your conscience, you're still liable to be polluting the environment," said Prof. Shenkar on the use of bioplastic dishes.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFBioplastic plates hanging underwater in an experiment to test how environmentally friendly they are(photo credit: TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY)
A new study has found that plastic dishes and utensils sold as environmentally friendly do not biodegrade as rapidly in a marine environment and have a similar environmental impact on marine animals as regular disposable dishes.The study compared the impact of regular disposable dishes and certified bioplastic dishes on the marine environment and concluded that, at least in the short term, both types of plastic dish have similar negative effects."Bioplastics are made of natural materials and, in that sense, they are more beneficial environmentally speaking – but they may also contain toxins just like regular plastic dishes, and they do not biodegrade quickly in the aquatic habitat," said Prof. Noa Shenkar who led the study along with research student Guillermo Anderson."In recent decades, substances called 'bioplastics' came on the market. Bioplastics are made of natural, renewable materials, and biodegrade relatively fast under certain conditions," said Anderson. But these conditions are not generally met, according to the researchers. A significant proportion of plastic dishes end up in the water, where they do not break down effectively as designed.Researchers put environmentally friendly plates underwater near Eilat and in a marine lab and found that after three months the plates had "absorbed water and swelled up, but showed no signs of breaking down."The study also found that the environmentally friendly plastics contain micro particles that can cause damage to marine life when ingested.The problem may be outdated standards, Shenkar said. "These standards define bioplastics as materials that biodegrade within 180 days in composting facilities" where conditions are tightly controlled and "generally not found in nature, especially not in the marine environment," she explains."Our study demonstrates the urgent need to update standards for 'environmentally friendly' disposable utensils, and for clearer consumer explanations. But, until that happens, this is an important consideration when spending good money on disposable dishes with bioplastics seals. While you may be calming your conscience, you're still liable to be polluting the environment," Shenkar concluded.The study was completed by the School of Zoology at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies, Tel Aviv University.
