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Cite This: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2017, 51, 12058-12060 pubs.acs.org/est

Biodegradability of Plastics: Challenges and Misconceptions

Stephan Kubowicz† and Andy M. Booth*,‡
†
SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, Oslo, 0314, Norway
‡
SINTEF Ocean, Trondheim, 7465, Norway
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ABSTRACT: Plastics are one of the most widely used materials and, in most cases, they are designed to have long life times.
Thus, plastics contain a complex blend of stabilizers that prevent them from degrading too quickly. Unfortunately, many of the
most advantageous properties of plastics such as their chemical, physical and biological inertness and durability present challenges
when plastic is released into the environment. Common plastics such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene
(PS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are extremely persistent in the environment, where they undergo very slow
fragmentation (projected to take centuries) into small particles through photo-, physical, and biological degradation processes1.
The fragmentation of the material into increasingly smaller pieces is an unavoidable stage of the degradation process. Ultimately,
plastic materials degrade to micron-sized particles (microplastics), which are persistent in the environment and present a
potential source of harm for organisms.

T here have been significant efforts in recent decades toward

developing and industrializing so-called “biodegradable”
plastics that might have shorter residence times in the
environment.1 Oxo-degradable plastics are one class of plastic
materials that are commonly promoted as biodegradable. In
reality, they are conventional plastics (e.g., PE, PP, PET)
containing additives that accelerate the oxidation process, so-
called prodegradants.2 The major issue with oxo-degradable
plastics is that they rapidly fragment into huge quantities of
microplastics when exposed to a combination of sunlight and
oxygen. While this speeds-up the first step of the degradation
process, making large plastic items ’disappear’ relatively quickly
compared to conventional plastics, the generated microplastic is
no different to any other type of microplastic. Under natural
environmental conditions, microplastic fragments resulting
from oxo-degradable plastics still take a long time to completely
biodegrade and continue to pose a threat to the environment.3
For those plastics that are considered truly biodegradable (e.g.,
polylactic acid, polycaprolactone, polybutyrate adipate tereph-
thalate), the biodegradability of the final product is not solely
determined by the properties of its polymer. It is also
determined by additives that are incorporated in final consumer
products, as well as the environmental conditions in which the
material ends up.4
One of the main challenges currently facing society is a lack
of plastic materials that rapidly and completely decompose
under natural environmental conditions, yet retain their
properties for a sufficient duration in consumer products. To
assist in the development of biodegradable plastics, interna-
tionally recognized standard methods are available that allow
biodegradability to be evaluated in a range of common
Received: August 7, 2017
Published: October 12, 2017

© 2017 American Chemical Society 12058 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b04051

Environ. Sci. Technol. 2017, 51, 12058−12060
Environmental Science & Technology
environmental matrices (e.g., marine, soils, or wastewater
treatment plants). Standard specifications and test methods
(e.g., ASTM D6400, EN 13432, ASTM D5338, ASTM D5929)
also exist for assessing the biodegradability of plastics under
optimized industrial and municipal composting conditions.5
Plastics that fully mineralize over reasonable timeframes under
the high temperatures and controlled conditions created within
industrial composting facilities can accurately be classified as
biodegradable or compostable. In addition, the fragmentation
occurs quickly in an industrial composter and poses little risk
for exposure of microplastics to the environment as the
degradation happens within a closed and controlled system.
However, there currently appears to be no global data available
on the proportion of biodegradable plastics that are composted
rather than entering general waste streams.
Although individual polymers and plastics can be classified as
biodegradable according to test methods designed to assess
biodegradability under optimized industrial composting con-
ditions, there is limited control or regulation over how the data
is utilized. In recent years, the term “biodegradable” has
become an appealing marketing term that is very misleading; in
most cases, the biodegradability was tested only under very
specific conditions and does not represent a generic property of
the material. When plastic materials are promoted as
biodegradable or “compostable” it suggests to consumers and
companies that they biodegrade in the same way under many
different end-of-life scenarios. Yet in the natural environment,
these same materials will take much longer to fully biodegrade
(often taking decades), and the degradation process still
generates large quantities of potentially harmful small particles.6
It is therefore recommended that stronger legislation regarding
use of the terms biodegradable and compostable on consumer
goods be established. Clearer guidance and terminology for
consumers and companies purchasing plastic materials is
needed to aid in the selection of the appropriate materials for
their respective end-of-life conditions. Plastic recycling
represents a successful example of such an approach, where
there is legislation regarding minimum recycled content
mandates and procurement policies, combined with recycled
product labeling.7
As demand for biodegradable plastic materials by consumers
is increasing rapidly, we believe a key research need is an
evaluation of their environmental and societal benefits. In the
2000s, for example, there was a shift toward the use of oxo-
degradable plastics for supermarket carrier bags as this was
considered a more environmentally friendly alternative to the
conventional polyethylene-type carrier bags, since the large
plastic fragments would persist in the environment for a shorter
amount of time. New knowledge has subsequently led to a
move away from oxo-degradable materials, which are designed
to rapidly fragment without considering the formation of
microplastic,8 toward truly biodegradable plastics and so-called
multiple use ’bags for life’ made from conventional, recyclable
materials. The available evidence suggests that the residence
time of biodegradable plastics in the natural environment is less
than that of conventional plastics, but degradation is highly
dependent upon environmental conditions and they still
undergo processes that generate microplastics.8,9 Biodegradable
plastics are also challenging to recycle and they are currently
difficult to isolate from mixed plastic waste streams that contain
recyclable (PE, PP, PET) and nonrecyclable plastics.
Technologies for isolating biodegradable plastics could be
implemented, but the volume of biodegradable plastic needs to
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be sufficiently high to make this economically viable.
Furthermore, biodegradable plastics are considered an un-
desired contaminant within the recycling streams of conven-
tional plastics. While conventional plastics may also be present
in the composting stream of biodegradable plastics, they do not
significantly impact the composting process. They can simply
be removed through sieving, together with other non-
compostable items, after the composting process is complete.
Like other dedicated waste and recycling streams, compostable
waste needs to be separated at source from normal household
or industrial waste. However, unless collection systems and
composting facilities are available to consumers, biodegradable
plastic is most likely to end up in conventional waste streams
(e.g., incineration, landfill).
Ultimately, many of the same challenges appear to exist for
biodegradable plastics as for conventional plastics. They need
to be contained in existing waste streams to prevent release to
the environment and they need to be separated from all other
waste materials (including plastics). Importantly, when they are
mineralized in industrial composting facilities this represents
the loss of a potentially useful resource that fails to meet
societal goals for a circular economy. A circular economy aims
to keep products, components, and materials at their highest
utility and value at all times, emphasizing the benefits of
recycling residual waste materials and byproducts.10 The
development of recycling approaches for biodegradable
materials is therefore going to be necessary if they become
high volume production materials.
■ AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail: andy.booth@sintef.no.
ORCID
Andy M. Booth: 0000-0002-4702-2210
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
■
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This manuscript has been written as part of the Research
Council of Norway (RCN) funded project “MICROFIBRE”
(Grant Agreement number 268404). We thank the RCN for
their financial support.
■
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12060 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b04051

Environ. Sci. Technol. 2017, 51, 12058−12060