Evaluating Degradation of Biodegradable Plastics In Real Environment

초록

Global plastic production has increased rapidly, and most of them are non-degradable plastics which remain and have a great adverse effect on nature. Conventional biodegradable plastics are making efforts to replace them, but some people are skeptical, arguing that biodegradable plastics only break down under certain harsh conditions. In this study, biodegradability of the various plastics was evaluated in mimicking real-field soil and seawater. In the fertile soil, semicrystalline aliphatic polyesters degraded better than in normal soil containing less carbon and nitrogen contents. In real-field seawater, degradation rate was increased because of additional external forces like sea wave and current. Consequently, the plastics could be sufficiently decomposed in the environment, and prevent ghost-fishing as demonstrated by artificial fishing gears.