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Tonnes of microplastics infiltrate Australia’s agricultural soils each year, study shows (theconversation.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Key parts that stood out to me,

We found every kilogram of compost contains between 1,500 and 16,000 microplastic particles. In weight, this equates to between 7 and 760 milligrams of microplastics per kilogram of compost.

Many local councils provide residents with kitchen caddies and “compostable” plastic bags to collect food waste. These bags can also be bought from supermarkets. These bags usually contain some plant-based substances. However, some contain fossil-fuel based material. Others may contain “bioplastics” such as that made from corn starch or sugarcane, which require very specific conditions to break down into their natural materials.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

My council specifically states to not use biodegradable bags, which I'm guessing is because of point 3. But even then, I'm guessing they get a lot of contamination.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, undoubtedly they will. I've found its so hard to even get people and councils on the same page as to what we're going to recycle on a simple milk carton, let alone the chemical differences in scrunchy single use bags.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The plastic caddy itself sheds. Ours inside is now rough and difficult to clean properly. I can only guess it’s shedding microplastics into the compost which we put into…a plastic bin for collection

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Ugh, thats dissapointing. Maybe thats why my local area promoted the compostable bags alongside. It seems theres problems with those though.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I bought a chipper mulcher to process tree prunings. A few years later the asbestos playground scare happened. There's few regulations about what they can sell as compost, no surprises they're cutting corners for profit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

I don't know that this article is really saying anything about people cutting corners.

Plastic is rife, and fairly unregulated through our society. "Compostable" doesn't attract much definitional legislation.

I think its really an article about how, our best efforts are being undermined by the lack of knowledge the society has about plastics.

I mean, i can't tell what the difference may be between a fossil fuel based "compostable" bag, a plant based "compostable" bag, or an actually "compostable" bag. Its all in the chemistry and thats as far as i can say, lol.