
Nestle creates wrapper that degrades in the sea within six months - pingou
https://news.sky.com/story/nestle-creates-wrapper-that-degrades-in-the-sea-within-six-months-11755547
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benj111
What are we actually talking about here?

Degradable != biodegradable.

Degradable just breaks up into microplastics quicker. But then it mentions
paper near the end, so is it a paper plastic laminate?

~~~
itgoon
Yes, I'd like to know what components it degrades into. Microplastics might
look better, but they enter into the ecosystem very easily.

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rahuldottech
It's nice to see Nestlé (which has a long history of unethical and despicable
practices) doing something nice for a change.

That said, I personally believe that revolutionary tech like this should be
released for anyone and everyone to use freely for the greater good (sorta
like how Volvo gave up the patent for the three-point seatbelt) but I doubt
that'll happen in today's world.

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iforgotpassword
When plastic wrapping conquered the planet, everyone thought it was great
since plastic is recyclable. Today we know it's mostly a lie so we could send
that trash to 3rd world countries who'd just dump it in the sea or handle it
in other bad ways.

It's great that this packaging solves the problem of plastic staying around
forever or turning into microplastics when floating around in the ocean and
exposed to the UV light from the sun.

But the first thing I'm wondering is whether that new packaging really solves
that problem too or just speeds the process up a lot, or maybe just has
different bad effects. Towards the end it mentions "carefully wrapped in
paper", so hopefully it's not actually a more hazardous variant of plastic
that happens to degrade faster.

~~~
southern_cross
Cellophane is basically a form of paper but it looks and feels like plastic.
It's been around forever and is completely biodegradable. I expect that this
packaging is maybe just new form of that.

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astura
I just hope it's not as LOUD as the Sun Chips biodegradable bag. This was
actually a legitimate problem, I stopped buying Sun Chips for parties because
of the obnoxious sounds of the bag.

[https://gizmodo.com/sunchips-new-100-compostable-bag-is-
hila...](https://gizmodo.com/sunchips-new-100-compostable-bag-is-hilariously-
ear-d-5616427)

~~~
iamnotacrook
"I just hope it's not as LOUD as the Sun Chips biodegradable bag. This was
actually a legitimate problem"

A solution to the problem of man-made waste lasting potentially hundreds of
years and causing damage to the eco-system at the cost of temporarily annoying
a few people too lazy to decant the contents of the packet into a bowl or
plate or just put up with the noise as they consume their junk food is pretty
much a perfect solution, isn't it?

