The Environmental Protection Department announced the "Marine Wastewater Treatment Action Plan" in mid-February, with the goal of completely banning disposable plastic products by 2030, including: plastic bags for shopping, free tableware, beverage cups and plastic straws, etc., and will also begin to restrict the use of plastic straws in 2019. After the news was announced, it caused a lot of discussions, and several discussions were launched online. Many netizens mentioned: "Why don't you use decomposed plastic bags?"
The three words "decomposed" are simple to say, but not easy to make, and the actual meaning is actually very complicated. Many "keyboard experts" on the Internet know astronomy and geography, and they "understand a little" about all kinds of professional knowledge, such as this time Regarding the issue of plastic restriction, I saw a netizen saying, "It's vain! Why don't you study Japan to use decomposed plastic?" In fact, such comments not only lack professional knowledge, but also cannot discuss problems further, but also help improve the environment!
{9"What does it mean?"
"To become a small piece or fragment" means "disintegration", which means making the plastic become smaller. The most common thing is to add corn powder or calcium carbonate to plastic bags. Corn powder and calcium carbonate can naturally decompose, and when they decompose, it will cause the plastic bag to "crack", that is, the plastic of polyethylene (PE) will become smaller. However, plastic that cracks into small blocks will never decompose continuously, nor can it achieve environmental protection effects.
Another way of cracking is to add a photosensitive promoter to the plastic, so that the ultraviolet light accelerates the cracking of polymers in the plastic. As long as it reaches the sun, the plastic will have the chance to crack into small pieces or even powder. But even if it turns into powder, the plastic is still plastic and cannot be decomposed. The cleaved plastic fragments, because the body becomes smaller, not only increases the difficulty of collection and recycling, but also makes other organisms more likely to mise their food.
I would like to tell you a very important concept. Any product that contains PE (polyethylene), PP (polypropylene), PVC (polyvinyl chloride), PS (polystyrene) and other plastic materials cannot be decomposed naturally. The only way to use it is: recycling and reuse. Even if the ingredients that are naturally decomposed such as rice bran, corn flour, and PLA are added, they are still plastic after being turned into small pieces, which is not environmentally friendly at all. On the contrary, because the current recycling technology cannot separate the natural ingredients from the plastic, it makes it more difficult for these materials to enter the recycling system. To put it bluntly: using plastic with natural ingredients is worse than using pure plastic!
"Is there no really completely decomposed plastic?"
completely decomposed plastic - PLASome. In fact, it is PLA. PLA uses powders and fibers from plants such as marinade, rice, corn, etc. to produce lactic acid after fermentation, and then polymerizes the lactic acid to form polylactic acid (polylactic acid), which is PLA.
PLA is a biodegradable polymer material, a truly decomposed plastic. PLA and plastic have good ductility, can be processed into various supplies, and are a good plastic substitute. Under high humidity and high temperature, PLA will simultaneously produce hydrolysis and heat degradation, turning back to lactic acid, and eventually becoming carbon dioxide and water. This is also why PLA is called "decomposed environmentally friendly material": because it can really decompose.
However, the decomposition of PLA needs to occur at high temperature and high humidity above 60℃, and also an environment of oxygen bacteria. If all environmental conditions meet, PLA may be decomposed within 60 days. If it is placed in different environments, the decomposition period will take longer. When the PLA products enter the ocean, it will make PLA less likely to be decomposed. So, don't be naive to think that as long as the PLA plastic bag is placed there, it will turn into air and water on its own: That's absolutely OK.
Taiwan uses a large amount of plastic, and the urgent task is to "reduce the volume".Taiwan uses 16.5 billion plastic bags and 3 billion plastic straws a year. Each person uses one per day on average, and more than 8 million can be used in a single day! I think the control of the total usage is an urgent task! Even for PLA that can be decomposed, the decomposition process is not that simple. It requires the opportunity to fully decompose it with specific temperature and humidity conditions. Therefore, "reducing" is the fundamental way.
Many people often ask me what environmental protection is? I believe that the core of environmental protection is to "use less". By "reducing volume, recycling, and reuse", truly reducing the amount is the real environmental protection! A life case: If your family has piled up a few pairs of environmentally friendly tableware, but when you go out to eat, you always forget to bring them, or use the free washing tableware provided by the store, and when you go shopping, you can't help but buy them with your hands, this is a "very unecotchable" behavior. Buying environmentally friendly tableware is not buying a coupon, but seeking peace of mind or starting from daily life.
In addition, it is also unreasonable to say that it is anti-nuclear power, and at the same time, it is also "rejected from firepower and energy generation," but it is always unreasonable for people who are out of the air of cold, because the consumption of power must be accompanied by the generation of stains.
The relevant policies of "plastic reduction" and "plastic restriction" can reduce the overall use by the power of laws and reduce the overall use, and at a certain time, the problem of plastic waste can be relieved.. In addition to the materials he has used, I think that the root cause is to be solved by looking back at whether your daily behavior conforms to the principles of real environmental protection. Finally, I remind everyone again that the real environmental protection principle is nothing more than: reduction, recycling, and reuse. (Reduce, Recylce, Reuse.)