The eco-friendliness of the biodegradable products is a commonly accepted fact, but are they really so?
Firstly let’s define what biodegradable stands for. A biodegradable product is expected to be able to decay into the primary particles and be safely contained within the environment. It also may decay into microorganisms or certain elements.
People tend to think that the product which is claimed to be biodegradable is necessarily absolutely safe for the environment. Thinking logically – numerous products are able to decay into their primary particles, but who said those particles are very good to the environment?
Biodegradable doesn’t mean safe
As mentioned above, biodegradable products can decompose into separate particles. But some of them can damage the environment we live in dramatically. Lack of knowledge leads to ignorance which could cost a lot to us. And the knowledge says that not in every case the compound substances decompose into simple ones. The example can be nonylphenolethoxylate. Many cleaning and washing supplies that we use daily contain it. It is a compound that consists of certain elements, but as not every person is very keen on chemistry, we don’t know that in the environment nonylphenolethoxylate will still remain a compound and will not decompose into simpler elements like people tend to think. In fact, when nonylphenolethoxylate gets into environment it becomes a very damaging substance.
Time is important as well
We may forget to take into consideration the time period throughout which certain products can be completely decomposed. Some products like fruit, paper, bread, etc can be fully decomposed within a relatively short period of time. Others, instead, take much longer (if time wouldn’t mean anything in this case, plastic could be considered a biodegradable product as well, though it can fully decompose only in thousands of years).
Another crucial moment is inappropriate disposal of waste products. The problem is that we mix together all possible kinds of garbage, and unfortunately even totally biodegradable products placed into a pile of all possible types of garbage will not decompose that quickly, if at all. Splitting the waste products that we dispose of into several categories would be a very good idea.
As we know, all the gifts of nature eventually return to it in that or other way – all the natural products finally get decomposed by the microorganisms and do no harm to the environment. But you definitely can’t say the same thing about artificial products. However sad it may sound, but the litter we throw away which fails to decompose in a short period of time is the true disease of our planet, and it will keep damaging the environment we live in for hundreds of years even if all the people in the world from this moment become absolutely eco-friendly. Consider this.
Have you ever thought that several recycling facts can shift the whole picture of understanding the world.
We expand, we grow, we escalate; hence, it is natural that we need to know the basic recycling facts that can make our life here more balanced.
Planet is on your side, are on on its side? Get the recycling facts here - claim your right to be smart.