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I recently read a blog post about a British breakfast drink that is packaged in biodegradable “plastic”. My initial reaction, being the eco-minded person that I am, was one of excitement. Wow, I thought, this is great; think of all the room we’ll save in the landfill. Then I thought about it again.

Would these bottles really get sorted into a compost bin, rather than thrown out? And even if they do, what happens in the backyard composter? The polymer used for these products, PLA, requires sustained high temperatures to begin the compost process. According to a study commissioned by NatureWorks, a biodegradable plastic manufacturer, the home compost heap won’t cut it, and there are only 113 facilities worldwide that will.

So it seems that the bottle is unlikely to be disposed of in a way that results in decomposition, but rather to be wrongly included with recyclables, or sorted to the already overburdened landfill it was designed to protect. If the latter happens, then believe it or not, the biodegradable plastics pose more of an environmental threat than conventional plastic.

How exactly could a biodegradable product be more harmful than a product we know persists for centuries, you ask? Landfills aren’t designed for biodegradation, so if the bottles do break down, they’ll do so anaerobically, releasing methane (a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide) and toxic biproducts, which can leach into surrounding groundwater.

While the eco-friendly bottle then, is turning to toxic waste, the evil plastic bottle is completely inert, releasing no GHGs or leachates. Don’t worry; I’m not advocating the use of disposable plastics. What I do advocate is closer consideration of the fate of plastic products before switching to plant plastics. Until they become the norm, rather than the (very rare) exception, biodegradable plastics should be used only where the proper composting facilities exist.

In the mean time, the real focus should be on diverting waste from landfills in the first place. Municipal audits routinely reveal that, even when appropriate facilities exist, recyclables and organics still make up 80% of landfill trash. Ensuring that only real garbage is sent to the landfill will make a much bigger difference in the struggle to contain landfill sites than filling them products that serve no green purpose other than to ease our EcoConsciences.

Someday I hope that all of our plastic will be briodegradable, and that every city will have the facilities to compost it properly. Until then, remember that being “eco-friendly” has become trendy, and as a result, companies will claim to be just that in order to gain our business. While in this case the manufacturers aren’t lying, they’re also not giving you the whole story. So when you see these labels, make sure to do a little bit of homework before taking them at face value.

And always – REDUCE, REUSE…. then RECYLE.