H7 - Biodegradable Packaging


This symbol is only to be implemented by packaging companies, which would be interested in working with biodegradable plastics if the ultimate solution should become available.
Biodegradable packaging has never really been a great success until now. Our scientists are working hard and have come a long way in developing plastic-like materials which are biodegradable to minimize the waste problems of the world. To put this in perspective, we could make every single product biodegradable as well as make every single product recyclable, the issue with biodegradability is that the energy used in refining and manufacturing biodegradable materials is completely lost when disposing of the item in the landfill or on our compost.
 
The other issue is that biodegradable materials affect the existing recycling system. By disposing of a degradable or biodegradable material in the recycling bin the recycling stream is contaminated, causing serious issues in the process and resulting in material faults in the remanufactured new material from recycled plastics. Packaging should be well marked with strict instructions for disposal either on compost or within general rubbish. Already, large supermarket chains supply degradable bags to proactively contribute to the environment, but these bags contribute other problems to the recycling stream when they are placed in recycling bins.  As mentioned before there are several types of degradable plastics - degradable is not the same as biodegradable, in either case, the breakdown of the plastic-like compound occurs over a period of time, for instance, in the so-called photodegradable plastic material, sunlight is required for the material to actually breakdown. This cannot occur when the material is buried, as is the usual case in landfills. Furthermore, photodegradable material breaks down into small pieces, this should be the great thing about it but this creates other problems when those small particles become airborne and enter the eco-system, these small parts of plastic end up in the ocean where thousands of sea turtles and other wildlife die every year to the point of extinction if we are not finding a solution real soon, minimizing the use of plastic daily is a great contribution. 

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NoteTimes/Hours/Amount UsedDays Per Week UsedDays Used in One YearConsumption of ResourceTotal Use of ResourceCost of Resource Per UnitTotal Resource Cost in One YearEstimated Implementation CostEstimated Savings in Five YearsEstimate Pay Off Time
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