Avaliação de normas técnicas e da percepção pública de biodegradabilidade para materiais plásticos alegando sustentabilidade
Arquivos
Data
2021-01-15
Autores
Vieira, João Soares da Costa [UNIFESP]
Orientadores
Castro, Ítalo Braga [UNIFESP]
Tipo
Dissertação de mestrado
Título da Revista
ISSN da Revista
Título de Volume
Resumo
Com o aumento do crescimento populacional, tem aumentado também a geração de resíduos sólidos, com previsão de atingir 6 bilhões de toneladas/dia, em 2025. Considerando que grande parte desses resíduos são descartados no ambiente, os efeitos negativos sobre a biodiversidade são sentidos em todo planeta. Uma parte significativa dos resíduos domésticos é composta por plástico. Nesse sentido, até o ano de 2015, aproximadamente 6,3 bilhões de toneladas de polímeros plásticos foram produzidos e projeções realizadas pelo Programa das Nações Unidas para o Meio Ambiente (United Nations Environment Programme) sugerem que até o ano de 2050 haverá cerca de 12 bilhões de toneladas de resíduo de plástico no planeta. Os oceanos são o destino de boa parte destes resíduos que afetam negativamente diversas espécies marinhas. Essa profusão de ameaças ambientais resultantes do descarte de plástico no ambiente desencadeou a implementação de várias medidas visando enfrentar esse grave problema ambiental. Entre as medidas colocada em vigor, a substituição do plástico comum por plásticos biodegradáveis vem se destacando mundialmente. Nesse sentido, normas técnicas de biodegradabilidade foram desenvolvidas a fim de regular a correta rotulagem desses produtos. Mais além, a falta de ordenamento jurídico sobre essas normas tem também favorecido falsas alegações de biodegradabilidade (greenwashing), que consistem em estratégias publicitárias baseadas em enganar consumidores e influenciar as decisões de compra quanto aos benefícios ambientais que um produto ou serviço pode oferecer. Considerando o exposto, o presente estudo avaliou a incidência de falsas alegações de biodegradabilidade em produtos plásticos (canudos) comercializados e verificou se as normas técnicas internacionais desenvolvidas para atestar biodegradabilidade contemplam os parâmetros ambientais verificados nos diversos ambientes marinhos. Para tanto, amostras de canudos plásticos comercializados no mercado brasileiro e americano foram analisadas individualmente, usando a espectroscopia de infravermelho, com transformada de Fourier. O resultado confirmou que os materiais foram fabricados com polímeros oxibiodegradáveis e Polipropileno (PP) puro os quais não são biodegradáveis em condições ambientais, nem mesmo quando associados a aditivos químicos. Por sua vez, foram revisadas 35 normas técnicas de biodegradabilidade de polímeros quanto aos parâmetros físico-químicos (temperatura, pH, presença ou não de luz e inóculo) e aos aspectos operacionais (período do teste e a taxa de biodegradação). Essas informações foram comparadas e discutidas à luz dos parâmetros biogeoquímicos que caracterizam majoritariamente os ambientes marinhos e costeiros do mundo. Os resultados indicaram que as normas e padrões atualmente em uso contemplam apenas uma fração da diversidade de ambientes onde os resíduos plásticos podem chegar após descarte e desconsideram largamente o mar profundo. Esses ambientes apresentam faixas específicas de atividade microbiana, pH, temperatura, salinidade e pressão não abrangidas em sua integralidade por nenhuma norma técnica. Portanto, as normas ideais para atestar degradação deveriam considerar as condições mais desafiadoras do mar profundo as quais poderiam conferir uma proteção efetiva a esses ecossistemas.
Due to global population growth, the generation of solid waste has also increased, presenting estimate to reach 6 billion tons / day by 2025. Considering that majority part of this waste is discarded in the environment, the negative effects on biodiversity have been evident. A significant part of domestic waste is made up by plastic. In this sense, by 2015, approximately 6.3 billion tons of plastic polymers were produced and projections made by the United Nations Environment Program (United Nations Environment Program) suggest that by the 2050 there will be about 12 billion of tons of plastic waste on the planet. The oceans are the destination of a expressive part of this waste. These environmental threats resulting from the disposal of plastic in the environment triggered the implementation of several measures aimed at tackling this serious environmental problem. Among the measures put in place, the replacement of ordinary plastic with biodegradable polymers has been standing out worldwide. In this sense, technical standards for biodegradability have been developed seeking to regulate the correct labeling of such products. Furthermore, the lack of legal framework on these standards has also favored false claims of biodegradability (greenwashing), which consist in advertising strategies based on deceiving consumers and influencing purchasing decisions regarding the environmental benefits that a product or service can offer. Considering the above, the present study assessed qualitatively the incidence of false claims of biodegradability by commercialized plastic (straws) products. In addition, the international technical standards developed to attest biodegradability were verified with regard environmental parameters observed in the different marine environments. For that, samples of plastic straws sold in the Brazilian and USA markets were analyzed individually, using infrared spectroscopy, with Fourier transform. The result confirmed that the materials were manufactured with oxy-biodegradable polymers and pure Polypropylene (PP) which are not biodegradable under environmental conditions, even when associated with chemical additives. In turn, 35 technical standards for polymer biodegradability were revised in terms of physical-chemical parameters (temperature, pH, presence or absence of light and inoculum) and operational aspects (test period and biodegradation rate). This information was compared and discussed in the light of the biogeochemical parameters that mostly characterize the marine and coastal environments of the world. The results indicated that the norms and standards currently in use contemplate only a fraction of the diversity of environments where plastic waste can reach after disposal and largely disregard the deep sea. These environments have specific ranges of microbial activity, pH, temperature, salinity and pressure that are not fully covered by any technical standard. Therefore, ideal standards for attesting degradation should consider the most challenging conditions in the deep sea which could provide effective protection for these ecosystems.
Due to global population growth, the generation of solid waste has also increased, presenting estimate to reach 6 billion tons / day by 2025. Considering that majority part of this waste is discarded in the environment, the negative effects on biodiversity have been evident. A significant part of domestic waste is made up by plastic. In this sense, by 2015, approximately 6.3 billion tons of plastic polymers were produced and projections made by the United Nations Environment Program (United Nations Environment Program) suggest that by the 2050 there will be about 12 billion of tons of plastic waste on the planet. The oceans are the destination of a expressive part of this waste. These environmental threats resulting from the disposal of plastic in the environment triggered the implementation of several measures aimed at tackling this serious environmental problem. Among the measures put in place, the replacement of ordinary plastic with biodegradable polymers has been standing out worldwide. In this sense, technical standards for biodegradability have been developed seeking to regulate the correct labeling of such products. Furthermore, the lack of legal framework on these standards has also favored false claims of biodegradability (greenwashing), which consist in advertising strategies based on deceiving consumers and influencing purchasing decisions regarding the environmental benefits that a product or service can offer. Considering the above, the present study assessed qualitatively the incidence of false claims of biodegradability by commercialized plastic (straws) products. In addition, the international technical standards developed to attest biodegradability were verified with regard environmental parameters observed in the different marine environments. For that, samples of plastic straws sold in the Brazilian and USA markets were analyzed individually, using infrared spectroscopy, with Fourier transform. The result confirmed that the materials were manufactured with oxy-biodegradable polymers and pure Polypropylene (PP) which are not biodegradable under environmental conditions, even when associated with chemical additives. In turn, 35 technical standards for polymer biodegradability were revised in terms of physical-chemical parameters (temperature, pH, presence or absence of light and inoculum) and operational aspects (test period and biodegradation rate). This information was compared and discussed in the light of the biogeochemical parameters that mostly characterize the marine and coastal environments of the world. The results indicated that the norms and standards currently in use contemplate only a fraction of the diversity of environments where plastic waste can reach after disposal and largely disregard the deep sea. These environments have specific ranges of microbial activity, pH, temperature, salinity and pressure that are not fully covered by any technical standard. Therefore, ideal standards for attesting degradation should consider the most challenging conditions in the deep sea which could provide effective protection for these ecosystems.
Descrição
Citação
VIEIRA, João Soares da Costa. Avaliação de normas técnicas e da percepção pública de biodegradabilidade para materiais plásticos alegando sustentabilidade. 2020. 63 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Biodiversidade Marinha e Costeira) - Instituto do Mar, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, 2020