• ElongatedMuskrat@lemm.eeEnglish
      73·
      4 months ago

      If they used PLA(made of cornstarch) which is common for fdm 3d printing then theres no threat of microplastics from what ive read. it is biodegradable, but very slowly.

      • MadBigote@lemmy.worldEnglish
        27·
        4 months ago

        I doubt it’s 100% cornsarch. I work in the plastics industry and there’s all sorts of travesties going on. We also have a line of cornstarch-made products, but they’re all scams when it comes to “recycling” and “being biodegradable”.

        There’s definitely plastic in it.

        • brian@programming.devEnglish
          14·
          4 months ago

          Polylactic acid is made via condensation of lactic acid, which can be made entirely from corn. It’s still plastic, but just made from renewable sources. It’s pretty recyclable and can be industrially composted, but in normal conditions it lasts as long as any other plastic.

          • skulblaka@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            6·
            4 months ago

            but in normal conditions it lasts as long as any other plastic.

            I am by no means an expert on the subject, but isn’t this basically the entire problem with plastic in the first place?

            It’s nice that this stuff is renewable and recyclable, but if it isn’t properly recycled, it sounds like we’re going to have the same problem we already have with existing plastics.

            • brian@programming.devEnglish
              6·
              4 months ago

              Yeah no, it’s only marginally better. All my information comes from 3d printing, which is even worse since there’s no way to recycle it since no recycling symbol. More accessible industrial composting would help though

              • irreticent@lemmy.worldEnglish
                1·
                4 months ago

                there’s no way to recycle it since no recycling symbol

                I wonder if you could get away with 3D printing the recycling symbol on whatever you’re printing. As long as the symbol/number match the materials I don’t see why it would be a problem.

      • fleet@lemmy.caEnglish
        7·
        4 months ago

        From what I’ve read PLA is only biodegradable under very specific conditions. I looked into it and you have to send it to a recycling center designed for PLA and its expensive to do so. I would assume microplastics would still be present too. Even though it can be sourced from plant matter its still plastic.