jtrend-systems™ blog : your everyday bio degradable plastic and packaging industry update

are biodegradable plastic bags more expensive? any way to cost down?

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A frequently asked question about " biodegradable plastics and green products ", is it really so expensive, can't someone just invent something that is affordable for everyday use - this may quite reflects what a lot of eco consumers's mind, come'on, I rather use a reusable bag tote, recycled plastics, resuable shopping bags, instead buying something that claims " biodegradable ", " corn starch ", " oxo biodegradable", or anything too green to be true. 3R is about reuse, reduce, recycle, why do I need a " biodegradable " bag, which is much more expensive, and less strength, and smells funny? By the way, I need to explain to you something you may not know, reuse is certainly better than recycle, because recycling needs:

• Transportation to a recycling centre (burning fuel)
• Energy, water and chemicals to reprocess it
• The quality of the recycled plastic at times may be of lower quality due to contamination with different plastics

I used to have the similiar mindset, like I always carry a green reusable tote when I shop is costco or BJ's since they do not offer a bag and carton boxes just not going to help me much if I am going to shop alone and no one helps me to move the carton up to the car - so heavy, I rather just bring a few reusable and strong bags that can help me to seperate and organize stuffs apart... but things are changing now, I see a lot of " biodegradable 13G tall kitchen bag ", " biodegradable cutleries", and " biodegradable dog waste bags " on the market, and some of them are really really expensive, twice more expensive than ordinary plastic bags, can I really afford it? They are definately not an affordable and conscious choice for everyday, because people may choose to use them in special occassions, like world environmental day, earther day... but not every household will be bothered to pay such high premium for the bags that they use everyday disposable (a waste of money) and these bags go to landfill, but not compost (I'll share with everyone about "compostable bags", but you can check here if this is not too technical for you).

MY PERSONAL OPINION:

• biodegradable and compostable bags are more expensive - they are good for industrial compost, but other than that, they will not degrade when they were thrown to the ocean by someone (maybe he/she doesn't mean it, just the little baby does it)
• oxo biodegradable/controll life bags can be self constructed after the safe service life - they are not good for compost, but other than that, they will degrade as long as there is oxygen, means in the river, ocean, school, roads, on the tree, they will be 100% degrade to water, CO2, and biomass.   
• cost, biodegradable compostable bags are twice more expensive and oxo biodegradable controlled life bags are only 15~20% more - commercially affordable, just like an insurance premium for our environment, why not? And the cost should be paid by the brands, retailer, manufacturer, not consumers.