Marine pollution /
Marine pollution / Marine degradation in 2012 to 17.1 million tons in 2025 by just reducing the mismanaged waste by 50 % in the top 35 countries. The red, green, and orange bars show the corresponding reductions in the amount of the mismanaged plastic waste entering the oceans based on 15 %, 25 %, and 40 % leakage – for example if one assumes the 15 % leakage scenario, the amount of plastic waste entering the oceans is reduced from 10.4 million tons to 2.1 million tons (red bar, figure 4). Therefore, developing systems to divert land based mismanaged plastic waste to managed end-of-life disposal systems like recycling, waste-to-energy, and composting or anaerobic digestors would prevent the mismanaged plastic waste from entering into the oceans. These efforts along with educational and consumer awareness messaging can clearly advance the goal to cleaner ocean environment. Conclusions Keep plastics out of the marine environment through: • Recover organics (biowastes) and compostable plastics through compostable and anaerobic digestion. Design for compostability/biodegradability in managed end-of-life disposal systems for single use, disposable, packaging and molded products and remove it from the mismanaged waste stream • Recover value plastics for mechanical or chemical recycling including waste to energy References 1. Microplastics in the ocean: A global assessment, United Nations Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution (GESAMP), Working Group 40, 2015, gesamp.org. 2. ‘Plastics, the environment and human health’ compiled by R. C. Thompson, C. J. Moore, F. S. vom Saal and S. H. Swan Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. B 264 (2009) doi:10.1098/rstb.2009.0030 3. A. A. Koelmans, E. Besseling, and E. M. Foekema, “Leaching of plastic additives to marine organisms,” Environmental Pollution, 2014, Volume 187, pp. 49–54; C. K. Pham, E. Ramirez Llodra, C. H. S. Alt, T. Amaro, M. Bergmann, M. Canals, J. B. Company, J. Davies, G. Duineveld, F. Galgani, K. L. Howell, V. A. I. Huvenne, E. Isidro, D. O. B. Jones, G. Lastras, T. Morato, J. N. Gomes-Pereira, A. Purser, H. Stewart, I. Tojeira, X. Tubau, D. V. Rooij, and P. A. Tyler, “Marine litter distribution and density in European seas, from the shelves to deep basins,” PLoS ONE, 2014, Volume 9, Number 4; Y. C. Jang, J. Lee, S. Hong, J. Y. Mok, K. S. Kim, Y. J. Lee, H. W. Choi, H. Kang, and S. Lee, “Estimation of the annual flow and stock of marine debris in South Korea for management purposes,” Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2014, Volume 86, Numbers 1–2, pp. 505–11; Trash free seas report: Every piece, every person, every community matters; Results from the 2014 International Coastal Cleanup, Ocean Conservancy, 2015, oceanconservancy.org. 4. C. M. Rochman, E. Hoh, T. Kurobe, and S. J. Teh, “Ingested plastic transfers hazardous chemicals to fish and induces hepatic stress,” Scientific Reports, 2013, Volume 3; C. M. Rochman, T. Kurobe, I. Flores, and S. J. Teh, “Early warning signs of endocrine disruption in adult fish from the ingestion of polyethylene with and without sorbed chemical pollutants from the marine environment,” Science of the Total Environment, 2014, Volume 493, pp. 656–61. 5. Jenna R. Jambeck, Roland Geyer, Chris Wilcox, Theodore R. Siegler, Miriam Perryman, Anthony Andrady, Ramani Narayan, Kara Lavender Law, Science, Vol 347, Issue 6223, pg 768, 2015 6. Y. Doi et al. Polym. Deg. & Stab., 51, 281, 1996 Fig 4: Reducing mismanaged plastic waste by controlled managed waste systems reduces plastic waste leakage into ocean 80 70 60 Mismanaged plastic waste (MMT/year) 15 % leakage to ocean 25 % leakage to ocean 40 % leakage to ocean 50 MMT 40 30 20 10 0 0 26 34 41 75 Reduction (%) Magnetic for Plastics www.plasticker.com • International Trade in Raw Materials, Machinery & Products Free of Charge. • Daily News from the Industrial Sector and the Plastics Markets. • Current Market Prices for Plastics. • Buyer’s Guide for Plastics & Additives, Machinery & Equipment, Subcontractors and Services. • Job Market for Specialists and Executive Staff in the Plastics Industry. Up-to-date • Fast • Professional 20 bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/16] Vol. 11
Marine pollution / Marine degradation PHA – truly biodegradable Most packaging will far outlast the useful life of any of the products they protect, causing a growing concern for packaging disposal due to the shortage of space for landfills. Furthermore, burning is not a sustainable option in many countries since some traditional plastics can create toxic fumes which cause damage to people’s health and the environment. The advantages of traditional plastics are widely recognized. The challenge is making materials that are just as effective while eliminating any detrimental effects to our planet. There is a tremendous amount of research in the area of bioplastics, with the promise of medium chain length (mcl) PHAs leading the way as a viable alternative to traditional polymers. To understand the difference between mcl PHAs and other biopolymer alternatives, it is helpful to understand what mcl PHA’s are and how they are made. Medium chain length PHA polyesters are produced by a natural bacterial fermentation process. Selected bacteria are fed natural food sources such as sugars, lipids, or fatty acids to produce PHAs granules as an energy reserve, much like humans store fat in their bodies. These granules are harvested by fracturing the cell walls of the host bacteria and separating the PHA granules from the cell debris. This highly controlled process yields polyesters within specific ranges of molecular weights, chain lengths, and comonomers allowing MHG to produce polymers with a wide array of physical and mechanical properties, including barrier properties suitable for food packaging. Extensive testing is currently underway with committed brand owners who are working to validate these materials in several manufacturing disciplines. Commercial launch of elected products will occur before the end of 2016, with PHA being commercially available to the general marketplace in 2018. Unlike most biopolymers available today, PHA is not just compostable in industrial composting plants. Although industrial compostability is a giant step in the right direction, the conditions must be conducive for hydrolysis to promote the polymer decomposition. PHA polymers degrade enzymatically and have a decomposition profile similar to cellulose. Virtually any environment that contain microbials will utilize PHA polymers as a food source and consume it. Thus PHA is, what MHG calls “truly biodegradable” – meaning it also degrades in a home composter as well as in soil, sweet- and sea water. These claims have been independently verified by the most recognized certification body in the world, Vinçotte International. Vinçotte awarded MHG all available certifications for safe biodegradation, including their first ever “OK Marine Biodegradable” certification, validating the legitimacy of the testing to recognized international standards. MHG is proud of achieving this milestone as a step toward helping the planet. Over the past years, the growing level of pollution contaminating the oceans has been highlighted in all traditional and social media. The ugly truth is that pollution is a blight on all environments wherever it occurs, and proven to be very difficult to control in some areas. MHG does include biodegradability as one of many attributes of this amazing new polymer. However, MHG in no way promotes or condones the improper disposal of any material. Only the brand owners can choose to best way to market the attributes of MHG polymers since they alone determine what features bring value to their brand or product. But when litter does occur and PHA materials inadvertently find their way into the ecosystem, PHA materials by MHG provide the final level of insurance, allowing microorganisms to return these polymers to the earth. Just like they would with any other natural food source in their environment. www.mhgbio.com By: John T. Moore Vice President- Business Development Meredian Holdings Group Bainbridge, Georgia, USA bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/16] Vol. 11 21
