Yes PET has a higher melting point but I was referring to the materials used to make it. rPET does not need the manufacture of additional raw materials whereas PLA does hence the parity in the carbon footprint.
where is your data from on this? PLA is not designed to be a vegan product and the use of waste from the animal processing industry - specifically fish guts and scales - is being seen as a good source of material for PLA, as it avoids this waste being dumped so contributes to the circular recycling economy.
PLA will only degrade in a landfill if it is exposed the whole time, if it is compacted under other rubbish and deprived of air it will not.
No. Barrier properties are nothing to do with the thickness of the bottle. Packaging barriers whether they be for gas, UV radiation etc are dependent on the material structure not its thickness. The structure of the packaging is determined by the types of barriers needed and the length of protection they will provide. PLA’s poor barrier properties are also what makes them suitable for short shelf life packs such as fresh fruit punnets or drinks.
not true - there are huge shortages - due to the poor amount of plastic recycled by customers. there certainly is not enough to meed demand and this is why you will often see large volume bottlers phasing in incremental percentage increases as they manage to obtain greater resin stocks. Some large MNC brands have also started hoarding resin stockpiles which doesn’t help the situation. Smaller niche brand owners may be able to find enough material to meet their needs.
you can read a thread I posted here on the subject of recycled material shortages.
My other problem with PLA is that gives already jaded consumers another cop out excuse to not recycle anything - affirming their belief that it is somebody else’s problem - which studies have found the majority do.
hope this helps.
I’ll pose one last question for you as I think I’ve covered off everything else I needed to say. PLA’s are marked with a resin code 7. 7 is basically the dumping ground for any plastic not covered in the other 6 resin categories and includes polycarbonates, fibreglass, PLA / other bioplastics, Nylon, BPA, acrylic etc.
Assuming you, as a consumer, knew what these resin codes meant, (and most don’t) just by holding it - how would you know what plastic it is and what recycling stream it needed to go in?
For the recycling streams for resins 1-6, a code 7 plastic represents a contaminant. One misplaced container can destroy an entire recycling batch if not removed. Any other code 7 plastic will also contaminate an otherwise compostable No. 7 PLA stream.