Oxo-degradable plastics banned in Switzerland from April 2022
Everything in the universe eventually collapses and falls apart. This means that biodegradability claims can be made easily. But the real question is: how long does it last and what does it break down into? Materials that are sometimes advertised as environmentally friendly often fall far short of the environmental statements on closer inspection. One of these materials is oxo-degradable plastic.
Oxo-degradable plastic is plastic with additives, typically plant starch or metals, that help it quickly break down into smaller pieces of plastic. Instead of an old plastic bag floating around in nature, we end up with an equivalent amount of small pieces of microplastic that are often impossible to collect and dispose of.
These oxo-degradable plastics, which do more harm than good to the environment, are often passed off as biodegradable, resulting in polluting recycled organic waste streams.
It’s not easy to tell the difference between products that biodegrade into something other than plastic and the oxo-degradable plastics that do. They may look the same. Because this deception is so easy, regulators have moved to ban it oxo-degradable plastics. In Switzerland, they will be banned from April 1, 2022, reports RTS.
The Swiss ban is the result of a motion by Isabelle Chevalley, former member of the Bundestag for the Liberal Greens. Chevalley highlighted the problem and Switzerland decided to align its regulations with regulations already in place in the EU.
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