What is Biodegradable Plastic anyway?
by Lisa Fletcher, Tofino The other day, a friend of mine commented on the number of green doggie bags she’d noticed littered along the beach. Granted, no one likes the sight of or to step in dog poo, but somehow wrapping it up in a neat little package and leaving it on the beach doesn’t make sense either. This got me thinking about these biodegradable plastic bags. Do they really breakdown completely, even in our chilly Pacific Ocean? We’ve definitely come a long way with the use of plastic bags, but this whole ‘biodegradable’ phenomenon has somehow managed to ease people’s minds without a second thought. First, a few terms: Degradable is given to a substance that can be broken down by natural processes into smaller parts, with no time frame for when it will break down. Everything is ‘degradable’ eventually, even if it takes 1000’s of years. Photodegradable is given to a substance that breaks down with exposure to ultraviolet light (uv). Biodegradable materials can be broken down compl
