Trying to cut my plastic usage, looked at my toothbrush the other day and though “What about this MFer!?”
The first few “eco conscious” toothbrushes I found only addressed the handle, they still had plastic bristles. The bristles were my greater concern though. Bristles would certainly be considered microplastics, yes?
I ended up finding a toothbrush with bristles described as:
I can’t comfortably claim to know what that means though.
Is this something that is still considered a plastic - just that it swaps petroleum for castor oil? If that is an accurate summation, does being a “biobased” plastic make it a “good” plastic? Will it break down and biodegrade when it eventually becomes trash (or in the belly of a fish)?
If it is not accurate to call it a plastic… well then same questions about whether that makes it “good”.
Any worries about the evils of the ricinus communis industry???
You can make non-biodegradable plastics from plants.
You can make biodegradable plastics from petroleum.
In regards to breaking down, knowing the source is not helpful. You need to know what type of plastic the finished product is made of.
And … if someone goes to the trouble of touting the biological source of a plastic but not whether it is biodegradable, I have a pretty good idea of the answer to the question.
Isn’t castor bean oil the ingredient for a deadly poison? I don’t know how comfortable I’d feel putting something derived from a toxic plant into my mouth.
No- the toxin of the ricinus plant, ricin, is a protein, therefore not soluble in oil. The plant is highly toxic, but the toxin tends to remain in the watery phase, and can be destroyed by heating.
From wikipedia: Ricin - Wikipedia
As ricin is not oil-soluble, little is found in the extracted castor oil.[10] The extracted oil is also heated to more than 80 °C to denature any ricin that may be present.[10]