COMPOSTABLE GREENWASHING
According to the Daily Mail on 30th December 2022 new research by “Sourceful” a Manchester-based supply chain transparency consultancy says that “marketing compostable plastics as good for the planet is ‘greenwashing’” making things appear more eco-friendly than they are.
Sourceful analysed more than 20 materials, including “compostable” plastic and normal garbage bags. It found compostable bags have nearly twice the global warming impact of traditional plastic. Compostable bags can only properly degrade under high temperatures in special processing plants, but they’re mostly discarded in general waste before being sent to landfill, where they release methane. Ordinary plastic bags, on the other hand, emit very little greenhouse gas in landfill because they are relatively inert.
Symphony Environmental Technologies plc (LON:SYM) is a world-leading developer of technology to make ordinary plastic biodegradable, and a range of other plastic technologies to protect against microbes, insects, fire, and many other threats.