Hello,
First and foremost, we have a new and long awaited company name, Pura Vida Bioplastics. This company name fits 100% with what we are about and our vision of natural products that come from the Earth and return to the Earth having no ecotoxicity. PURA VIDA!! (aka PURA LIFE)
Our straw manufacturing line was, unfortunately, delayed by a few months as we had to adjust and assure that we are running verifiable certified home, soil and marine compostable material for our straws. There is so much greenwashing going on that we had lies and misdirection from our own advisor out of California that was promoting industrial compostable material to be tested on our machine and telling us it was home compostable. This relationship has been terminated! They are being held accountable for deceptive business practices and not aligning with Pura Vida’s integrity and moral commitment to the public and our planet. We recommend everyone to go BEYOND GREEN and assure you are receiving certifications that are verifiable and forthright.
We have grocery and t-shirt bags being manufactured by our third-party partners and the orders are growing so rapidly that we are looking further into more expansion to keep up. This is so amazing to see this coming to fruition. These new relationships will be revealed soon so we can show the recognition they so dearly deserve.
We will be posting more images and videos over this next month so you all can see the progress!
Again, thank you for your support, please like and share our social media and always remember,
Let’s go beyond green and redefine plastic!
Kirt McGhee, CEO
Everyone wants to be green and now you see a lot of compostable plastic on the market. Is compostable plastic really compostable? Can I add it to my compost bin? How long does it take to decompose? These are all good questions that gardeners should be able to answer.
My Master Gardener group had a year-end party and one member brought some compostable plastic drinking glasses. As I was collecting them at the end of the evening I started to wonder how well they decomposed. I had previously looked into compostable teabags and was surprised by what I learned. Are these drinking glasses just some more greenwashing?
In this post, I’ll discuss compostable plastic, compare that to biodegradable plastic, and explain the role of all of these in the garden.
I thought this was a simple question, but its not. Different organizations use different definitions and the general public has their own idea. As a gardener, I assumed I could drop it into a hot composting bin and it would decompose, but that has nothing to do with the definition.
Compostable plastic is defined by the standards association ASTM International (ASTM) as “a plastic that undergoes degradation by biological processes during composting to yield carbon dioxide (CO2), water, inorganic compounds, and biomass at a rate consistent with other known compostable materials and that leaves no visible, distinguishable, or toxic residue.”
Note that the time frame or the condition of composting is not part of the definition.
Many assume that compostable plastic is a new type of plant-based plastic. Some compostable plastic is made from plant material such as corn, potato, tapioca, soy protein, and lactic acid but others are made from petroleum, including BASF’s product Ecoflex.
Biodegradable is defined as ” a product that completely breaks down, given the right conditions and presence of bacteria or other living organisms, to its basic components.
The keywords here are “the right conditions”, which can be defined for each biodegradable product.
When the right conditions are a composting environment, the terms compostable and biodegradable mean the same thing. When the degradation needs an environment other than composting the two terms are not synonymous.
The term bioplastics is also confusing, misused and misunderstood. Things are further complicated by the fact that there are no labeling standards, at least in the US, for terms such as biodegradable, degradable, compostable, starch-based or plant-based.
The short answer is probably not. If it is labeled as “home compostable” it might, but most compostable plastic does not carry this label.
For example, Polyactic acid (PLA) is a popular compostable plastic used to make drinking cups, clamshell containers and plastic cutlery. It requires 140 F (60 C) to decompose, which is much hotter than a backyard compost bin can maintain long enough and throughout the complete pile.
Commercial composting facilities carry out composting in closed chambers and they routinely reach the higher temperature needed, however, many of these facilities run on a 30 day cycle, and PLA takes 60-90 days to decompose. At the end of 30 days, the plastic is still intact and gets filtered out and sent to landfill.
Read the rest here
Straw or No Straw: How Our Choices Impact Aquatic Wildlife One Straw at a Time
HOW DOES PLASTIC IMPACT THE ENVIRONMENT?
Plastic can be used to save wildlife, but it can also be extremely dangerous, especially when we over-produce, over-use, and over-consume and then fail to reuse, recycle, and/or dispose of it properly. Most plastics are not biodegradable and cannot be broken down naturally by bacteria or other living things, and as a result, most of it ends up in wildlife habitats where it poses a threat to plants and animals.
More than 50% of all of the plastic ever made has been produced since 2004. Plastic pollution is a result of the buildup of plastic waste that has accumulated over decades and especially over recent years. The accumulated plastic finds its way into our lakes, rivers, and oceans, where aquatic life is in danger of ingesting plastic or being exposed to the toxins that leach from it. Some wildlife, like sea turtles, sea birds, and marine mammals, can even get trapped or ensnared in plastic waste. Millions of turtles, seabirds, and other wildlife die each year from complications directly related to plastic consumption. It’s estimated that as many as 70% of seabirds and 30% of turtles have ingested some type of plastic from the ocean. [1]
WHY ARE STRAWS BEING BANNED? HOW DO STRAWS HURT THE ENVIRONMENT?
As one of the most common types of single-use plastic, or plastic products that are generally used only one time and then thrown away, straws are one of the culprits of unnecessary plastic pollution.
The particular problem of plastic straws
Five hundred million straws are used each day by people in the United States alone.[2] Plastic straws are one of the most widely used, and therefore disposed of, plastic products. Many types of straws cannot be reused or recycled due to the chemicals they are made from. Most plastic straws are also not biodegradable and cannot be broken down naturally by bacteria and other decomposers into non-toxic materials.
Straws are particularly prone to ending up in our waterways, and ultimately the oceans, due to beach littering, wind that transports the lightweight objects from trash cans and trash collection facilities, and barges, boats, and aquatic transport vehicles. Most plastic straws simply break into ever-smaller particles, releasing chemicals into the soil, air, and water that are harmful to animals, plants, people, and the environment.
WHAT ARE SOME ALTERNATIVES TO PLASTIC STRAWS?
If you or a loved one is required to use a straw for medical purposes, or if you just prefer to consume your beverages with straws, there are many non-plastic straw options available. Simply replacing cheap and disposable plastic straws with reusable stainless steel, glass, or biodegradable paper alternatives is an easy way to cut down on plastic pollution. Check out the gift store at your local AZA-accredited zoo or aquarium and you might just find one in stock!
Source: How do straws hurt the environment?
With plastic pollution becomes more and more visible to consumers and everyday citizens, cities, states, and countries have been enacting plastic bans. As we begin to recognize the problems caused by traditional, petroleum-based single-use products, we have started searching for viable solutions. One such solution was to simply ban products made from those materials. And while this is a great idea in practice, the umbrella-like nature of these types of bans tends to ban the solution as well as the problem. Many single-use plastic bans also cover products made from compostable bioplastic materials, especially when it comes to drinking straws. Plastic straws are an easy item to simply ban and get rid of, or look to replace with less-than-useful and less-than-enjoyable alternatives like paper or hay. But the reality of the situation is we need a solution that satisfies customers and the planet, and right now bans are preventing that solution from coming to fruition.
So why are some plastics bans covering compostables? They are plastics bans, aren’t they? Well originally, these bans were written before bioplastics were well-established and the resources and knowledge just weren’t there to inform legislators that this wasn’t something that should be included in bans. Odds are, lawmakers were trying to get bio-based materials that are in no way compostable or biodegradable banned, and in the process covered compostables as well. Many states also want to eliminate as many opportunities for greenwashing as possible, so by covering all bioplastics, they no longer have to be concerned with what’s greenwashed and what’s actually planet-friendly. But the biggest reason bioplastics are covered in plastic bans is because of industrially compostable bioplastics. When most of these bans were written, PLA (polylactic acid) was the only well-known and widely-utilized bioplastic. PLA products have to be transported to compost facilities that can properly compost them to get their environmental benefits; they have no benefits if they end up in landfills. Because many communities did not have these types of composters, it simply became easier to ban PLA rather than sort it out of the recycling stream.
So what language should you look for in your local legislation to determine if it covers compostable bioplastics? Well, phrases like “biologically-based polymer” (City of Miami Beach, FL) or “biologically-based source (such as corn or other plants)” (City of Deerfield Beach, FL) are both phrases used to target PLA and other industrially compostable materials directly, as they are made from cornstarch or sugarcane bases. Some bans call out PLA directly, like Los Angeles: “any straws made from a bioplastic/compostable/polylactic acid (PLA).” Others just make sure to cover all “compostable and biodegradable petroleum or biologically-based polymer straws” (State of Washington) with a cover-all phrase. While these bans are all very well-intentioned, they need revisions to allow certified compostable materials and products to help bring about the solution to the single-use plastics problem.
We’re not against single-use plastics bans. We actually want to encourage more states, cities, and the federal government to implement more bans on products made from traditional, petroleum-based materials. However, we want to make sure that the new bans coming into play keep compostable bioplastics OUT of their coverage, and that the ordinances currently in place that do include bioplastics consider a revision. A great example is the City of Charleston, SC’s plastic straw ordinance and styrofoam ban; they ban materials and products based on ASTM test standards D6400 and D6868, as well as BPI certification for industrial compostability. Bans like this that are based on scientific compostability test standards and certifications are the best of their kind, because they eliminate greenwashing, and promote the use of compostable alternatives to traditional plastics. So take a page from Charleston’s book and get our plastics bans on the right page…the compostable page.
Although plastic goods became widely available to consumers during the 1950s, it’s only during the last twenty years that we’ve seen the real boom in plastic – and as a result, plastic waste.
In the 1960s less than 1% of our refuse was plastic; by 2005 that had increased to 10% according to one ground-breaking study of plastic production.
In recent years, concern has mounted over the increasing quantities of single-use plastic items that are becoming part of our everyday lives. One of these items is the plastic drinking straw, billions of which are given out in cafés and restaurants, or as part of takeaway meals, every year.
In the US, an estimated 500 million single-use plastic straws are used each day, while in Europe the figure stands at 25.3 billion in a year. But what happens once these straws are used and discarded?
This article will take a frank look at how plastic straws affect the environment in four key ways, focusing particularly on how they impact our oceans and marine life. We’ll also consider how more environmentally friendly drinking straw solutions are becoming available, which can help us to reduce plastic waste and clean up our waterways.
Why are plastic straws bad for the environment? Well, the first problem is that unlike natural materials such as paper, wood, or cotton, the polypropylene used to manufacture most single-use plastic straws is not biodegradable. This means that once plastic straws go to landfills, small organisms such as insects or bacteria can’t break them down by consuming them.
Instead, what happens is that the straws will simply degrade, gradually disintegrating into smaller and smaller particles – known as microplastics – over a period of up to 200 years. As the plastic degrades, it also exudes harmful chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA), that have been linked to environmental pollution and health problems.
Not only are plastic straws not biodegradable, but they are also very difficult to recycle after we’ve finished using them. Of the 8,300 million metric tons of plastic that have ever been produced, a mere 9% has been recycled. Moreover, polypropylene plastic straws are categorized as type 5 plastic, which is even less commonly recycled.
Because of this, consumers struggle to find recycling facilities for straws, and local councils or authorities refuse to collect them from the curbside. Further, if plastic straws are accepted for recycling, they are so small and light that they are often sifted out at mechanized recycling plants and sent to landfills anyway.
Depositing plastic straws into landfills so they can slowly degrade is by no means an environmentally friendly solution. However, the reality is that used plastic straws frequently have a much worse destination: our oceans. It’s estimated that 8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year, and 1.15–2.41 tons of it is carried there down major rivers around the world.
Plastic straws are particularly prone to making their way to our waterways. First, they constitute a significant part of beach litter, with one large-scale beach litter pick identifying straws as the seventh most collected item. Because plastic straws are small and light, they are regularly blown out of rubbish bins, refuse vehicles, and landfill sites by the wind. They can then quickly find their way to watercourses and be washed into the sea.
Finally, along with other small plastic items, straws can be ingested by birds scavenging at landfill sites. As the straws do not biodegrade, they then stay in the bird’s stomach until it dies. The bird itself biodegrades, leaving the plastic straw to be blown or washed into waterways as before.
Once plastic straws reach the ocean, they can accumulate with other plastic waste and form huge floating masses on the ocean surface. The largest of these “plastic islands” has been named the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located between California and Hawaii, and covers an area of 1.6 million square kilometers.
The debris can prevent sunlight from reaching algae and plankton beneath the water, stopping them from changing the light into vital nutrients. If algae and plankton populations are threatened, this can impact the entire marine food web. In the long term, this could result in less seafood being available for humans too.
Plastic straws might be small, but when we use billions of them per year they make a significant contribution to plastic waste in our seas. In fact, scientists predict that if we continue to allow the plastic to enter the ocean at the current rate, by 2050 there will be more plastic (by weight) than fish there.
Of course, such a quantity of plastic waste reaching our oceans cannot fail to have a negative impact on the marine and coastal wildlife that live in and near the water. It’s estimated that around 800 different species are affected by ocean plastic pollution and that at least 100,000 marine mammals die every year as a result of plastic debris.
Plastic straws that wash into the sea pose a particular threat to wildlife, as their small size makes them easier for birds, animals, and larger fish to ingest. Although it isn’t possible to put a number on the impact of plastic straws alone, it’s thought that 90% of seabirds have ingested some kind of plastic from the ocean and by 2050 99% of species could be affected. If a large quantity of plastic is ingested, this can cause a marine bird or mammal to starve to death; feeling the weight in its stomach, it assumes it has eaten and is not motivated to find enough food to keep it alive.
Entanglement in plastic debris is another huge problem for marine creatures. In 2015 a video of a sea turtle having a section of plastic straw removed from its nose by a group of marine biologists went viral. This film shocked millions of viewers and raised awareness about the dangers of plastic pollution, lending weight to campaigns to ban single-use plastic straws altogether.
As discussed above, plastic straws degrade into smaller particles over time and this makes them even easier for fish to swallow. In this way, plastic is actually entering the food chain and may, ultimately, be consumed by humans too. More research is needed to establish how many people have these microplastics in their bodies and whether this could have deeper health implications.
Across the world, countries, and states are taking action to ban or limit single-use plastics and clean up our environment. In the USA, California, Oregon, and Hawaii have plastic bans in place (at the time of writing), while the European Union has set a deadline of 2021 to ban single-use plastics.
The days of disposable plastic straws are numbered, and in their place, more eco-friendly options are appearing. Individuals have the option to purchase reusable straws made of glass or stainless steel. However, businesses (such as food and beverage companies) that still want to give customers the option of a disposable straw with their product are increasingly turning to biodegradable paper straws.
These positive changes are a hopeful sign that the problem of plastic straws and how they impact the environment will soon be a thing of the past. Now to roll up our sleeves and clean up our oceans, support our marine wildlife, and leave our beaches pristine for future generations to enjoy.
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#puravidabioplastics New manufacturing facility is ready and awaiting the arrival of our new #biobased #homecompostable drinking straw manufacturing line next week. We are super excited about this new operation in the great State of Texas.