“Biodegradable” vs “naturally degradable”?

Since plastic straws retired from the stage of history, the emergence of new materials straws also let us know several “new words” about degradation, like the current mainstream PLA biodegradable straws, and the emergence of “biodegradable”, “naturally degradable”, so do you really understand the difference between the two? Today, let’s talk about this topic.

The first is the concept of “biodegradable”, which refers to any substance that can be broken down and absorbed into the natural environment by microorganisms, such as fungi and bacteria, as a naturally occurring process. While when an object breaks down, its original components break down into simple components, this process can take place with or without oxygen, but it takes less time with oxygen.

This degradation time depends on the chemical composition of the object and how it is stored, with variables such as temperature, water, light and oxygen affecting the rate of degradation. Things like vegetable peels, eggshells, paper and garden waste all biodegrade directly. When these items are discarded, they break down in a relatively short period of time so they can be absorbed into the natural environment. And some materials, like styrofoam, are generally considered non-biodegradable because they take a long time to break down.

So most “biodegradable” consumer products are actually very difficult to absorb into the soil through natural biodegradation. Therefore, in order to achieve this process, a specific condition needs to be created through the composting process.

So what is “naturally degradable”? To put it bluntly, it does not need human intervention and is directly discarded into the natural environment. After a few months, it will decompose into non-toxic and harmless elements that already exist in nature, such as NaCl (sodium chloride), potassium chloride, carbon dioxide, oxygen, water and so on.

In summary, the main difference between the two is the need for human intervention, that is, the need for composting conditions. According to relevant data, there are very few waste disposal centers in China that are capable of industrial composting. On the other hand, such biodegradable materials need to enter the composting environment separately, and it is difficult to remove them, especially for very small items such as straws.

Nanjing High Efficiency New Material Technology Co., Ltd. launched a new generation of natural degradable single-layer environmentally friendly paper straw, the project has been assessed by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the international advanced level, the product is made of FSC certified food grade paper, not using glue bonding, safe and assured. Single-layer structure design is more elastic, can withstand high temperature immersion without collapse, do not spread. And compared with the traditional multi-layer winding paper straw, the new generation of environmentally friendly paper straw can be naturally degraded in the natural environment, without separate sorting, greatly reducing the social cost.

However, whether it is biodegradable or naturally degradable, it is just one way to protect the environment, but in the final analysis, we still need to get into the habit of doing a good job of garbage sorting.