That's a great question, and I think that's a really important point to make.
One of the main reasons that we're not seeing the environmental potential of these materials being met is that we simply don't have the infrastructure to handle them.
The first generations of these materials were not designed in collaboration with waste management operators. They were designed in their own kind of little silo. They've slowly been making their way into the market. Now, we're wanting compost operators to handle these materials that they don't really understand. So, there are many reasons why we're not seeing them degrade in the way that we want them to.
I submitted a report, a white paper that I wrote, called “Composting biodegradable plastics”. It really does outline the science behind composting and the science behind the degradation of biodegradables. However, the thing is that there are many applications, mostly when you have food waste and plastics coming together, where it's very difficult to clean off the food or the oil, etc., from the plastic in order to be able to recycle it appropriately. It would be much easier to be able to put both the food and the plastic in some sort of composting operation where it all gets broken down into the same soil material.
I'm not saying that all plastics should be compostable, but there are definitely times when it's just a lot easier for that waste management for them to be compostable. That's really what I want to highlight. There are so many of these different tools in our tool box that we can use, and depending on the different situation that plastic is in—if it's food packaging or if it's toothbrushes—it really depends on whether or not we want to go down the recycling route or the composting route. It just means that we have to really think about what the materials are that we're using.