BCW to Offer Biodegradable Plastic Office Supplies

UK-based BCW Office Products announced its creation of a line of fully biodegradable plastic office supplies. To do so, it's moving its U.S. office to Austin, Texas, the latest city to become headquarters for all things green.

Its line of files, wallets, dividers and cups are comparable in cost to regular, non-degradable plastic office supplies.

BCW claims to use a specially formulated additive that works with existing polypropylene and causes the plastic to fully degrade within eight to 12 months when placed in a typical landfill. There, the product ends up as a biomass that feeds natural bacteria into the soil.

Currently, about 80 percent of post-consumer waste plastic fills up landfills for hundreds of years while it slowly breaks down and releases toxic fumes.

Because BCW's plastic is made of polypropylene, it still comes from petroleum. But it could lessen the burden of plastics in overflowing landfills.

So how does it compare to plastics made from plant-based materials, such as corn, that have increasingly shown up in fast food restaurants and coffee shops? Many of those types of plastics require excessive amounts of water and fertilizer for corn crops, increasing costs of all corn products. And most require special processing procedures in order to be composted correctly – they won't just biodegrade automatically if you toss them in the garbage. However, they don't rely on petroleum.

Until the perfect product emerges or we learn to rely less on plastic, perhaps these are all better alternatives to the permanent plastics filling stores and landfills everywhere.