Reflection on Bioplastic

Bioplastic is a new type of plastic that scientists have recently discovered and that we are working into. These plastics are being made using crops, which it why it is called “Green” and is biofriendly. It is made using sugar coming from corn, sugar cane, or sugar beets. Most other plastics are made from oil, which is then transformed into pollution. Compared to this, this “Green” plastic might seem like perfection. As perfect as this plastic might seem, it’s not completely unharmful to the environment. Just like normal plastic, it needs electricity to be produced. We still need electricity in the factories which still is harmful to the environment. Bioplastic cannot be recycled together with normal plastic. This means that we will have to make different places for it to be recycled, and have more environmental costs. Also, where will we grow it? All our fields are used for food, to feed the human population. If we use more fields, more rainforest, to grow corn for plastic, won’t we just make the impacts on the environment worse? And if we start using all our fields to grow for example corn – what will we eat? If we overuse this plastic, is there any possibility that we might use all the corn fields for plastic and not have enough corn to feed the human population? This is a very debatable topic. Is bioplastic really as fantastic as it sounds?

I think that bioplastic is great, although it has some cons. It might not be the perfect solution to saving the planet, but it does have less impact on the environment than normal plastic. In a way, the fact that it is made from crops and not crude oil does make it biofriendly, although not in the indirect way. I think that we should switch to bioplastic and see how it goes. It might be the perfect way to save energy, save oil and possibly reduce pollution. We can use this plastic while scientists try to figure out another plastic with better uses.