this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2024
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Uplifting News

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[–] NaibofTabr 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

It's not even about the cost so much. Bioplastics just aren't a good substitute for synthetic polymers for a lot of applications, usually because they're water-permeable. This article doesn't address the characteristics of the particular bioplastic they tested, but most of them are based on corn starch.

Water permeability is what makes the plastic biodegradable - water penetration allows bacteria to get inside the material and break it down. It also makes the plastic useless for medical applications, most industrial applications, anything electrical, anything outdoors, and even food packaging - it can't be a drink bottle because it'll dissolve, and it can't be a bag for dry food because it won't keep the food dry. Maybe you could use it for take-out containers, short term stuff... hard to imagine another use case.

The relative permanence and water-blocking nature of synthetic polymers is what makes them useful. It's also what makes them such a terrible waste problem.

[–] Shurimal@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

it can’t be a bag for dry food because it won’t keep the food dry.

What dry foods actually need to be in a watertight container and how often do you immerse your packaged dry food in water or leave it in a humid environment? Back when I hiked a lot our circle of friends packed all the dry food we took into reusable fabric bags and had no problem keeping it dry for weeks in snow and rain.

Quite a lot of dry food is packaged in paper or carton—flour, cereal, couscous, sugar etc. For some reason (at least where I live) most dry food that are my staples like rice, pasta, buckwheat is packaged in plastic but could just as well be packaged in paper. It's not like rice or pasta is more vulnerable to humidity than couscous or sugar (packaged in paper/carton).

[–] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Your camping excursion is not the same as international shipping. A container will see vast swings of climate on its travel.

[–] Shurimal@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Somehow all the dry foods that are shipped internationally in carton boxes seems to do just fine...

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