By: Max

Max — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:30:02 +0000

Federal Trade Commission Defines Biodegradability
A funny thing happened to me on the way to the local garbage dump. I discovered that my trash wasn’t biodegradable. The trash in the back of my truck was headed for a “Dry Tomb” landfill where my garbage will be compacted, covered with dirt, compacted some more and then layer upon layer the process will continue rendering my trash non-biodegradable. Archeologists thousands of years from now will be able to drill through these layers and just like Indiana Jones, find out how I lived by looking at what I threw away.
In a traditional “Dry Tomb” landfill, the stuff isn’t going to go away, at least not very fast. We use our dry tomb landfills to hide our trash…keep it away from our sight and noses.
I was surprised yesterday, to see an interesting tidbit about our landfills in the press. The federal government (Federal Trade Commission) has determined that since things do not biodegrade in a landfill, any item that is disposed of by tossing it in the garbage cannot be called biodegradable. Why you ask? Well, things in a typical “Dry Tomb” landfill don’t biodegrade and that would include things that normally do biodegrade…like paper, and food waste. It seems that anything that isn’t burned or composted in a commercial composting site and is disposed of in a landfill….can no longer be called biodegradable.
Take PLA (Corn starch or other plant starch) plastics, most PLA plastic will end up in a landfill. Historically, 70-80 percent of plastics isn’t recycled and end up in our landfills, streams and oceans. PLA can’t be mixed in with the normal recycling stream with other plastics so most PLA will end up in a landfill. For proper disposal, PLA must be processed in a commercial composting site. Commercial composting sites in the U.S. are far and few between. Since most PLA will probably end up in a “Dry Tomb” landfill under the FTC ruling it should no not be considered/labeled as biodegradable plastic.
Let’s take another example, leftover food. If you dig a hole in your backyard and put your food scraps in the hole and cover it with dirt, your food scraps will biodegraded within two to three weeks. Food placed in a back yard hole would be considered biodegradable. Now, let’s take that same piece of lettuce and take it to our local garbage dump…oops; it’s no longer biodegradable (Assuming your landfill is the “Dry Tomb” type) according to the FTC.
However, if you happen to be lucky and your local landfill is a “Bioreactor landfill”, then paper, lettuce and a lot of other garbage will biodegrade.
Bioreactor landfills are designed to cause things to biodegrade and a bioreactor landfill is designed to capture biogases and turn those gases into clean energy. There are only a few bioreactor landfills in the U.S., they cost more to build then dry tomb landfills. Part of the problem is that due to compliance with EPA and other environmental regulations it takes years of paperwork and meetings to get the building permits. It should be easier to build an environmentally friendly bioreactor landfill.
Landfill operators have told me that it’s easier for landfill owners to maintain status quo and as one operator told me,” We have land for another 50-100 years, then it’s someone else’s problem.”
As I mentioned earlier, all the stuff we put in a landfill in a landfill biodegrades; however, some of it will take a very long time. There is a product that will biodegrade in a dry tomb landfill; the ENSO Biodegradable bottle.
ENSO Bottles, LLC, and environmental company, realized that all plastics ultimately end up in a landfill and with more than 150 billion bottles being produced each year something needed to be done about reducing plastic pollution. ENSO is a supporter of recycling, an important part of conserving scarce resources and protecting our environment. However, less that 30 percent of plastic bottles are recycled, the remaining 100 plus billion bottles are ending up in our landfills, streams and oceans. ENSO recently announced the development of a modified PET plastic bottle that will biodegrade including in a “Dry Tomb” anaerobic landfill environment. ENSO Bottles have been tested to biodegrade in an anaerobic or aerobic microbial environment leaving behind natural elements of biogases and humus.
ENSO bottles with EcoPure‚Ñ¢ have been tested and validated for the following:
(1) Recyclability through a third-party lab for ASTM D 1003 (Haze and Transmission).
(2) ASTM D 4603 (Intrinsic Viscosity)
(3) ASTM F 2013 (Acetaldehyde), Fluorescence Visual, and Visual Black Specks and Gels.
(4) ASTM D 5511 Standard Test Methods, a standard for biodegradation testing in anaerobic environments. Results clearly indicate ENSO bottles with EcoPure‚Ñ¢ biodegrade through natural microbial digestion.
To learn more about these solutions visit http://www.ensobottles.com and http://www.bio-tec.biz.
To request official test results contact:
ENSO Bottles at 866-936-3676 or Bio-Tec 1-505-999-1160.

By: Raels

Raels — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:44:44 +0000

WOW what wonderful products

Comments on: How Companies Can Kick the Petroleum Based Water Bottle Habit

By: Max

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