Under the current legislation there is a bill SB 1454 that is proposing to ban the use of the word \u201cBIODEGRADABLE\u201d for ALL plastic products.\u00a0 Sounds absolutely crazy, why would any legislator agree to support this? \u00a0\u00a0Well, the bill is backed by the PLA industry, most specifically BPI (Biodegradable Products Institute) and Natureworks.\u00a0 They have proposed the legislation to prevent consumers from being able to choose other environmental solutions that make better sense.\u00a0 The legislation has a very compelling and sexy intent behind it which is to prevent green-washing and promote consumer awareness but what it really does is helps the PLA industry corner the market by preventing competing technologies and environmental solutions which the facts show are better than PLA.<\/p>\n
PLA is ONLY a industrial compostable material and if used for applications such as bottles, toys, misc packaging, etc have no chance of EVER making it into a disposal environment that is needed in order to mechanically break down the plastic.\u00a0 When these products make it into the customary disposal methods of recycling or landfills they will wreak havoc on recycling and last forever in landfills.<\/p>\n
Our mission is to address and help solve the plastic pollution issue in the world, this legislation will do nothing to move us closer to that goal.\u00a0 It will hinder innovation and prevent consumers from knowing what is in the packaging material of the products they are purchasing.\u00a0 We believe a better approach would be to encourage innovation, stop green-washing by requiring any claims to be backed up by scientific 3rd<\/sup> party testing data using internationally recognized standards board\u2019s testing and require brands to use definitions based on the tests performed.\u00a0 We believe consumers will understand what it means when companies claim biodegradable, compostable or degradable when using these terms.<\/p>\n On July 26 we joined a group of like minded companies and people to create the Environmental Plastic Coalition to work towards stopping this kind of legislation.\u00a0 We need your help to let the California legislators know that big business our voices do matter. \u00a0We are creators of own reality, making choices that support our reality not ones that disarm it.<\/p>\n