Behind the Green Promise: Eco-Innovation or Commercial Illusion?

Abstract

Plastic pollution is getting worse, and interest in environmentally friendly alternatives is growing. Biodegradable packaging may seem like the ‘best option’ to solve the problem, but the reality is far from simple. Common materials such as PLA and PBS, for example, are labelled as ‘environmentally friendly’ and ‘sustainable’, but they often require special conditions in industrial composting before they can be fully degraded. If they are simply thrown in the ordinary rubbish bin, buried in the ground or floated into the sea, they may not even ‘disappear’ as advertised. In some cases, they don’t even degrade as well as traditional plastics. To complicate matters even further, to make these materials stronger and more practical, many products add other chemicals, with the result that the degradation process may release microplastics or hazardous substances. The article also talks about an interesting but dangerous psychological phenomenon - ‘moral substitution’: people feel that they have done their bit for the environment by buying products labelled ‘green’. People feel that they have done their part to protect the environment by buying products labelled as ‘green’, and they get the psychological satisfaction of being a ‘good citizen’, while ignoring whether these products are really environmentally friendly. Actually new materials such as PHA can show better degradability, but due to high costs and lack of infrastructure, it is difficult to spread for the time being. To make biodegradable packaging really work, it is not enough to rely on consumer choice, but also need technological advances, policy supervision, the integrity of enterprises to promote and the public’s more rational judgement, we work together, environmental protection will not just stay on the label.