Mary Margaret McMahon from Toronto, ON writes:
I always thought glass bottles were better for the planet than plastic but some people have been arguing with me about that lately. Is glass really better?
Also, I’ve been promoting the use of biodegradable bags for our residential composting program but today someone told me the carbon footprint for these bags is worse than plastic bags because they are made from corn and take up valuable agricultural land and release a lot of methane. Please tell me they are still better than plastic!
Lindsay writes:
First, in a nutshell, glass is great. It’s easily cleaned, doesn’t leach toxic chemicals and can be reused. When shopping, I always opt for a glass container versus plastic. I also then covet all glass jars in the house and reuse them. As far as recycling glass goes, it’s possible but does take a lot of energy.
When using plastics, stick with our jingle "2, 4, 5 keep yourself alive." Those numbers are the safest to reuse, although 1-7 are all recyclable depending on your town or municipality.
The fewer plastic or bioplastic bags you can use in your home the better. Be greener trash bag is one that is made from recycled materials or biodegradable. Bioplastics are typically made with corn. And yes, corn is one of the most common GMO or GE crops out there. You’ll never really know if a bioplastic bag is made from GMO or GE products because Canada and the US don’t label GMO crops. Our federal government voted against doing so.
Plastic bags from recycled content require 40% less energy to make. Making virgin plastic involves massive amounts of chemicals and results in air pollution. Plastic however never degrades completely – it only photodegrades, which means it breaks down into smaller and smaller particles. This is why there are thousands of plastic particles out there and some bird bellies are about of 50% full of plastic (watch the movie Addicted to Plastic).
Biodegradble plastic bags breakdown into CO2 and water mostly, with no toxic chemicals. The trick is to find out if your bag can breakdown in your municipal facility. Some of the products on the shelf will breakdown in your home composters, others need 3-6 months in a municipal landfill. You can ask the company that makes them. One fact I found said that bioplastic uses 68% less fossil fuel when manufactured and release 80-90% less greenhouse gases than traditional plastic bags.
As a final note, bioplastic (like anything else made from a renewable resource) will release methane in a landfill. Some landfills are even harnessing the methane gas to make energy – not always a bad thing if it’s not released into the atmosphere.
