As editor of There continues to be intense interest among many readers in biodegradable plastics.
A case in point: a story that we posted on June 1, "Biodegradable products in landfills may be harmful" was the third-most-accessed story on PlasticsNews.com in June.
The story, from our colleagues at Waste & Recycling News, said that biodegradable products such as some disposable cups and utensils may be doing more harm than good in landfills, because they release a powerful greenhouse gas as they break down.
Since there was so much interest, I want to make sure that readers notice that we've published a Perspective column from one of the authors of the study that prompted the first story.
The column, headlined "Collecting landfill gas good step," is by James Levis, a researcher and doctoral student at North Carolina State University.
Levis notes that he is aware that his report, "Is Biodegradability a Desirable Attribute for Discarded Solid Waste? Perspectives from a National Landfill Greenhouse Gas Inventory Model," had generated news headlines.
In some cases, he said, writers have drawn improper conclusions from the report.
For example, writers who he identified as anti-environmentalists "have tried to use the results to portray environmentalists and environmentalism as naive and/or misguided. This argument is nonsensical when made by those who deny anthropogenic climate change. This research is meaningless if one does not first accept basic climate science. The purpose of the research is to allow us to more effectively mitigate GHG emissions by making informed decisions."
What the study does suggest is that landfill operators should be much more aggressive about collecting methane from landfills. In addition, it suggests that "increasing composting infrastructure could also be beneficial if additional life-cycle research shows benefits from composting these materials instead of landfilling."
I know this won't be the final word on the merits of degradable plastics. But it should help to put the North Carolina State research into the proper perspective.
Comments (2)
Geesh, give these guys enough rope and they'll hang themselves. Look how they love to overstate everything.
First, they ran their research on some obscure degradable polymer and then they conclude that all polymers will act the same.
Now they want to throw in the whole set of GHG issues too by getting into judgments about who is a denier and what are the basics of climate science. "This research is meaningless if one does not first accept basic climate science." What does that mean? They made no such statement in their report. I read and blogged about the report when it first came out and thought it was a nice piece of research. Now I see that it nothing of the kind, but instead something that they thought could be used to advance their objectives.
Posted by John Spevacek | July 12, 2011 9:29 AM
Posted on July 12, 2011 09:29
Although I have not read this research report, I have engaged in discussions with colleagues about methane gas emissions from biodegradable polymers.
I think that more research is needed on how much methane gas is actually emitted from biodegradable waste, specifically packaging, and how these amounts compare to the other sources of methane in the world.
Consider this, one of the biggest sources of methane gas in the world is from livestock; emissions from their digestive fermentation...flatulence.
The following statements are from the EPA website; http://www.epa.gov/rlep/faq.html
Globally, ruminant livestock produce about 80 million metric tons of methane annually, accounting for about 28% of global methane emissions from human-related activities. An adult cow may be a very small source by itself, emitting only 80-110 kgs of methane, but with about 100 million cattle in the U.S. and 1.2 billion large ruminants in the world, ruminants are one of the largest methane sources. In the U.S., cattle emit about 5.5 million metric tons of methane per year into the atmosphere, accounting for 20% of U.S. methane emissions.
Posted by Chester Alkiewicz | July 15, 2011 2:59 PM
Posted on July 15, 2011 14:59