Laurier said: “And why is this so important? Because not one of the parties is looking at plastics in the round and developing clear thinking and innovative ways of dealing with it. You would expect the Greens to be concerned, but the Greens manifesto doesn’t mention plastics at all.”
While Laurier claimed that the Conservatives went into detail “on a number of environmental initiatives”, there was “no idea” on how to prevent plastic waste in the oceans accumulating there “for decades”. He added that Labour is “no better” and Reform would avoid Net Zero altogether and promote nuclear energy instead.
Laurier said that although the Liberal Democrats made a pledge to “tackle plastic pollution and waste and get Britain recycling”, it’s not suitable: “They want to eliminate non-recyclable single-use plastics and replace them with affordable alternatives, but this risks promoting a change toward materials which are not really suitable for the job, and have a much worse LCA.”
Biodegradable future?
Laurier has urged the parties to make plastic with biodegradable technology, as he said if it escapes into the environment, it will “quickly become biodegradable and be removed from the eco system”.
He added: “What is really needed here in the UK is an adult conversation with the electorate. We need to have the benefits of plastic – be that for packaging or anything else – but we need to look at how it is manufactured in the first place.”
Laurier insisted that the EU is “even worse”, as the Environment Committee of the European Parliament has reportedly banned “oxo-degradable” plastic. Although this is not the same as oxo-biodegradable plastic, Laurier said the “resulting confusion” has delayed the adoption of d2w technology in Europe.
Laurier concluded: “While plastic still provides the best material for many applications, it must be produced sustainably to avoid harming the planet. Using biodegradable technology can be a great way to tackle these problems and work toward a more sustainable future.”
Biodegradable plastics is in most cases the wrong answer.
It is non-recyclable and turns into CO2 and H2O as it degrades – but without the energy recovery and carbon capture potential of WtE that otherwise does the exact same thing.
Oxydegradable plastics are even worse, as they just defragment into microplastics!
It may even promote littering as it can be wrongly percieved as harmless and fast degrading in nature.
EU is doing the right thing in not promoting biodegradable plastics (except for specialty uses).