Regular, petroleum-based plastic bags used by grocery and other stores doesn't biodegrade. Much of the 260 million tons of plastic the world generates every year winds up in the oceans. This plastic stew threatens mainly marine life, but land mammals can also succumb to this toxic waste. As a result, hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales, and other marine mammals, and more than 1 million seabirds die each year from ocean pollution and ingestion or entanglement in marine debris.
Most plastic trash reaches the seas via rivers, 80% originates from landfills and other urban sources, such as storm drains, where sea life mistake plastics for food. Once ingested, the waste causes blockages within their digestive tract resulting in agonizing death. Plastic toxins also end up in the fish which we consume and feed to our families.
The EPA notes that most plastic that was ever made is still around. They state that over 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide. Less than 5% of which is recycled. In the United States, we use over 380 billion plastic bags and wraps yearly, requiring 12 million barrels of oil to create.
Adam Peterson writes in Innovative Design. Thanks to both innovation and investment—and a little help from the local flora—Thailand is embracing green technology in some unexpected ways. Like many developing countries, Thailand is facing a dilemma: how to address growing energy needs and consumption without sacrificing economic growth. To that end, Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) is looking to bio-based solutions, taking advantage of a thriving agriculture industry by reusing the waste it produces—and in the process, potentially creating a green-tech sector other nations can emulate. The EEC was set up by the Thai government to orchestrate investments in such futuristic industries as next-generation cars, agriculture and biotechnology, robotics, biofuels and biochemical, among others. To replace potentially harmful one-use products like plastic bags and food containers, the EEC is turning to bioplastics and materials derived from local plant products like cassava starch or bamboo scraps from chopstick factories to manufacture new options that decompose completely after a few weeks. International bioplastic producer Corbion recently announced an expansion of their presence in Thailand with an additional $100 million investment, including a new facility in Rayong set to open in 2018 that will produce poly-lactic-acid (PLA), a bioplastic polymer made from sugar cane. “The market for PLA is growing some 15 to 20 percent per year, driven by consumers that want to have plastic products that are more sustainable than the oil-based plastics,” said Francois de Bie, marketing director for bioplastics at Corbion, in a recent interview. “PLA has a low carbon footprint and helps to reduce plastics pollution.” x xYouTube Video