Hi there,
It’s me, Bernie. I’m the Director of Sustainability at Who Gives A Crap. We may not have met before but I feel like we’re old friends. After all, I spend most of my day thinking about how we can create products that you’ll love while protecting our planet.
Our most recent new product launch raised some questions, or really a question. Why aren’t our new rubbish bags biodegradable?
I get it! I’m as wary of plastic as the next Director of Sustainability. And I’ll be honest, recycled plastic is not a perfect solution. But it’s the best solution for the sanitation systems most of us currently live in. Let me explain.
When I think about new products, I think about how the product is made, where it's made, what it's made from, how it’s distributed and what happens at the end of its end of life. What are the environmental implications of a product? What are the trade offs for making it more sustainable? It’s a holistic view.
Now of course I’d always recommend compost or recycling waste where appropriate, but for garbage going to landfill, you actually don’t want your bag to biodegrade. Bioplastic (aka compostable bags) in landfills will break down and become methane which is a powerful greenhouse gas. If you take recycled plastic like we're using, it's not going to break down and release methane like bioplastic would.
What about other biodegradable plastics? Well most of them are actually regular plastic with an additive that helps them break down into microplastics which are a real problem for the environment.
So if you’re going to send waste to landfill, you want to keep it in something that will not degrade and release a powerful greenhouse gas in the process. Plus the plastic that we’re using was already considered garbage – we’re just giving it a second life!
All of that is to say, our bags are a very sustainable way to get rid of trash, but the best thing to do is to have less trash in the first place.
Thank you to everyone who wrote in with questions. It makes my job a lot more fun to know that people really care about the planet and are holding businesses like ours accountable. Hope I was able to clear up your concerns!
Hugs!
Bernie
P.S. You can shop for our new rubbish bags here.
