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Dear Readers,

Twelve years ago, the word bioplastic sounded exciting—almost sexy. Back then, I didn’t truly understand what the term meant, nor the implications behind it.

Today, Let’s be honest: the global plastic waste management system is broken.

Among all plastic applications, the worst possible options are so-called “soil-biodegradable” plastics (used mainly for agricultural mulch films) and “compostable” plastics (used mainly in the packaging industry).

In the case of “soil-biodegradable” mulch films, manufacturers explicitly instruct farmers to plow mulch films directly into the soil rather than remove them from the fields.

In practice, tractors bury “soil biodegradable” plastic films underground—this is happening across Europe, the United States, China, and India.

This is not a solution. It is a catastrophe in the making for the food chain. Even iconic products like Italian food are now contaminated with microplastics.

EU institutions are complicit in this crime because they’re funding this ecological catastrophe.

To add insult to injuries, The EU institutions are protecting and promoting these so-called “soil-biodegradable” plastic mulch films.

The EU Single-Use Plastics Directive banned so-called UV-biodegradable (Oxo) plastics, yet it allowed “soil-biodegradable” (and compostable) plastics. This distinction makes no scientific or environmental sense. All soil biodegradable plastic mulch films contaminate soil with plastics, microplastics, and nanoplastics—and must be phased out entirely.

In a few years, when the full scale of this ecological and public-health disaster becomes undeniable, I hope we will ask politicians, public officials, and corporate executives one simple question:

Were you aware that “so-called soil-biodegradable plastic” (*) films were toxic and dangerous to the environment and to public health?

(*) Soil-biodegradable plastics are designed, in theory, to break down within about 18 months once incorporated into the soil. However, because they are applied annually, repeated use could lead to accumulation. After three or four years, plastic residues may build up faster than they fully degrade, potentially resulting in more plastic fragments in the soil than expected.

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