Introduction: Hello my name is Matthew and I will be your first affirmative

constructive speaker in today's debate. Currently in the status quo, plastics are used
on a widespread scale in America, and are a staple in most households. In America,
we import most of our plastics from China. However, plastic pollution is very
detrimental to the environment, and is a large issue to the whole world. Thus the
affirmative team stands resolved: The United States Federal Government should
substantially increase its economic and/or diplomatic relations with The People's
Republic of China. We would also like to remind the judges that we are running a
comparatively advantageous case, which means that all we have to prove is that our
plan is better than the status quo.

Inherency:GATT (General Agreement on Treaty and Trade) Article I

states World Trade Organization (WTO) members must treat imports
from all other members equally.
Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry
http://www.meti.go.jp/english/report/data/gCT9901e.html

GATT Article I: provides for WTO Members to accord Most-Favoured-Nation treatment

to like products of other WTO Members regarding tariffs, regulations on exports and
imports, internal taxes and charges, and internal regulations. In other words, "like"
products from all WTO Members must be given the same treatment as the most
advantageous treatment accorded the products of any state.
Should an importing country flagrantly accord differential treatment to "like products" of
the exporting country, i.e. by setting different tariff rates, it would be clearly a violation
of GATT Article I:1. However, Article I:1 violations can also occur even when there is no ostensible discrimination against the product of a Most-Favoured-
Nation, such as when an importing country accords differential treatment among products that are considered to be "like products," which ultimately results in the de facto
discrimination against products of specific contracting parties. For instance, a country may apply a different tariff rate to a particular variety of raw coffee bean, but if that
variety and other varieties of coffee beans were considered to be "like products," using criteria such as consumer tastes and end-use, the differential tariff may have an
effect on imports from only specific countries. This may be considered in violation of the MFN rule. 1 In contrast, the concept of like products was strictly interpreted in
Japan's SPF (spruce, pine, and fir) case. The panel in that case recognized that each WTO Member might exercise considerable discretion as to tariff classifications and
that the legality of such classifications would be established to the extent that it did not discriminate against the same products from different WTO Member.2

Plan:
Plank 1: Mandate that the US Federal Government raise plastic tariffs by 500% on
China.
Plank 2: Mandate that the US Federal government lower biodegradable plastic by tariffs
95%.
Plank 3: The Affirmative team reserves right to clarify intent. Definitions and Cost and
Funding Breakdown will be available upon request

Advantages
Advantage 1: Cleaner Oceans
Subpoint A Harms: US Oceans are currently full of plastic
Center for Biological Diversity, 2012
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/

Plastic never goes away. And it’s increasingly finding its way into our oceans and onto
our beaches. In the Los Angeles area alone, 10 metric tons of plastic fragments — like
grocery bags, straws and soda bottles — are carried into the Pacific Ocean every day.

Today billions of pounds of plastic can be found in swirling convergences making up

about 40 percent of the world’s ocean surfaces.

Plastics pollution has a direct and deadly effect on wildlife. Thousands of seabirds and
sea turtles, seals and other marine mammals are killed each year after ingesting plastic
or getting entangled in it. Endangered wildlife like Hawaiian monk seals and Pacific
loggerhead sea turtles are among nearly 300 species that eat and get caught in plastic
litter.

It’s time to get at the root of this ocean crisis. The Center has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to begin regulating plastics as a pollutant under the Clean Water
Act — a crucial first step in reducing the amount of plastic littering the oceans. We've also petitioned to designate the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a Superfund site. Read
more about our campaign.We need your help to get the EPA to do the right thing. Please take action today by signing our petition — and also, please sign up to get our email
alerts.

THE PLASTIC PROBLEM

We're surrounded by plastic. Think about every piece you touch in a single day: grocery bags, food containers, coffee cup lids, drink bottles, straws for juice boxes — the list
goes on and on. Plastic may be convenient, but its success carries a steep price.In the first decade of this century, we made more plastic than all the plastic in history up to the
year 2000. And every year, billions of pounds of plastic end up in the world’s oceans. Most ocean pollution starts out on land and is carried by wind and rain to the sea. Once in
the water, there is a near-continuous accumulation of waste. Plastic is so durable that the EPA reports “every bit of plastic ever made still exists.” Due to its low density, plastic
waste is readily transported long distances from source areas and concentrates in gyres, systems of rotating ocean currents. All five of the Earth's major ocean gyres are
inundated with plastic pollution. But it's not limited to the gyres; studies estimate there are 15–51 trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans — from the equator to the poles,
from Arctic ice sheets to the sea floor. Emerging research suggests that not one square mile of surface ocean anywhere on earth is free of plastic pollution.A HEAVY TOLL ON
WILDLIFEThousands of animals, from small finches to great white sharks, die grisly deaths from eating and getting caught in plastic: Fish in the North Pacific ingest 12,000 to
24,000 tons of plastic each year, which can cause intestinal injury and death and transfers plastic up the food chain to bigger fish and marine mammals. A recent study found
that a quarter of fish at markets in California contained plastic in their guts, mostly in the form of plastic microfibers.Sea turtles also mistake floating plastic garbage for food.
While plastic bags are the most commonly ingested item, loggerhead sea turtles have been found with soft plastic, ropes, Styrofoam, and monofilament lines in their stomachs.
Ingestion of plastic can lead to blockage in the gut, ulceration, internal perforation and death; even if their organs remain intact, turtles may suffer from false sensations of
satiation and slow or halt reproduction. Tragically, the most current research indicates that half of sea turtles worldwide have ingested plastic.Hundreds of thousands of
seabirds ingest plastic every year. Plastic ingestion reduces the storage volume of the stomach, causing birds to consume less food and ultimately starve. Nearly all Laysan
albatross chicks — 97.5 percent — have plastic pieces in their stomachs; their parents feed them plastic particles mistaken for food. It’s estimated that 60 percent of all seabird
species have eaten pieces of plastic, with that number predicted to increase to 99 percent by 2050. Based on the amount of plastic found in seabird stomachs, the amount of
garbage in our oceans has rapidly increased in the past 40 years.Marine mammals ingest and get tangled in plastic. Large amounts of plastic debris have been found in the
habitat of endangered Hawaiian monk seals, including in areas that serve as pup nurseries. Entanglement deaths are severely undermining recovery efforts of this seal, which is
already on the brink of extinction. Entanglement in plastic debris has also led to injury and mortality in the endangered Steller sea lion, with packing bands the most common
entangling material. In 2008 two sperm whales were found stranded along the California coast with large amounts of fishing net scraps, rope and other plastic debris in their
stomachs.THE EPA MUST ACT NOWPlastic pollution doesn’t just hurt marine species. It’s also harmful to people.As plastic debris floats in the seawater, it absorbs dangerous
pollutants like PCBs, DDT and PAH. These chemicals are highly toxic and have a wide range of chronic effects, including endocrine disruption and cancer-causing mutations.
The concentration of PCBs in plastics floating in the ocean has been documented as 100,000 to 1 million times that of surrounding waters. When animals eat these plastic
pieces, the toxins are absorbed into their body and passed up the food chain.As plastics break apart in the ocean, they also release potentially toxic chemicals such as
bisphenol A (BPA), which can then enter the food web. When fish and other marine species mistake the plastic items for food, they ingest the particles and pass toxic chemicals
through the food chain and ultimately to our dinner plates.Plastic pollution affects our economy, costing us untold dollars spent in beach cleanups, tourism losses and damages
to fishing and aquaculture industries. Beaches and oceans have turned into landfills. Prime tourist destinations are now littered with garbage. Kamilo Beach, in a remote corner
of Hawaii, is now known as “Plastic Beach” for the tons of plastic debris that accumulates on its shores.

Subpoint B Link: China produces a significant portion of the world's plastic

South China Morning Post, February 2015
http://www.scmp.com/article/1711744/china-produces-about-third-plastic-waste-
polluting-worlds-oceans-says-report
Plastic bottles, barrels, bags, toothbrushes and even syringes are piled high around rural villagers and migrant workers tasked with recycling it.They sort, clean and break up the
rubbish before putting the pieces into furnaces where they are melted and remoulded, eventually to be processed into small granules.The scene is typical of many family-run
plastic recycling mills clustered in rural areas of Hebei, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, to name a few, according to independent documentary director Wang Jiuliang, who
has been filming the business for several years.Yet the tale shows just one side of China's [has a] huge plastic footprint. A study
published this week in the journal Science said China was responsible for nearly 30 per
cent of the plastic pollution clogging the world's oceans.

The environmental and health impacts of China's unregulated plastic recycling business
were immense: the cleaning process pollutes waterways, melting and burning the scraps
released toxic pollutants into the air, and leftover pieces unfit for recycling were dumped
directly into riverbeds, Wang said.
His documentary, Plastic Kingdom, tells the story of how an 11-year-old girl almost became one such plastic recycler spending three years helping her parents - who wanted to
make enough money from the business to send her to school, but failed.According to the new study, led by Jenna Jambeck, an assistant professor of environment engineering
based on
at the University of Georgia, an estimated eight million tonnes of waste plastic enters the oceans each year from the world's 192 countries with coastlines,

2010 data: China's heavily populated coastal cities contributed between 1.3 million and
3.5 million tonnes of the waste, the study found.Chen Liwen, a researcher with the environmental group Nature University in Beijing, who has
focused on the problem in her research, was not surprised by the findings. "[And] Plastic waste that has no value for recycling

is either burned directly or dumped in waterways and eventually ends up in the sea. This is
very common in China's rural areas, where there is no waste management in place," she said. Such waste includes thin plastic bags and plastic foam, used for food
packaging.China banned such bags in 2008, but enforcement is lax. The prohibition on plastic foam was lifted in 2013, sparking criticism from environmentalists, but even when
the ban was in place, about 15 billion disposable plastic lunch boxes were produced every year, official statistics say.Meanwhile, China was also the world's largest importer of
plastic waste, much of it from the United States, according to Wang, the filmmaker. Some plastic waste was even smuggled into China, as some areas of the business had
become very profitable.The study, published on Thursday, also found eight of the top 10 biggest contributors to the problem were in Asia, including Indonesia, the Philippines,
Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh.The US, the only wealthy industrialised nation in the top 20, ranked at No20. Coastal European Union nations
combined would rank 18th. This is mostly because developed countries had systems to trap and collect plastic waste, Jambeck said.The findings mark the most detailed
assessment yet of the scale of plastic waste circulating in the oceans, imperiling wildlife and blighting once-pristine sites.Jambeck projects that by 2025 the total accumulated
plastic waste in the oceans will reach around 155 million tonnes. That's based on population trends and continued waste management disposal problems, although there may
be some early signs of change, she said. "We need to wake up and see our waste," Jambeck said. "I think the problem in some ways has sort of snuck up around
us."Researchers estimated more than nine million tonnes would end up in the oceans this year.

Subpoint C Impact: Using more biodegradables would significantly reduce the

amount of plastic in the oceans
Matt Prindiville, April 2015
http://upstreampolicy.org/the-solution-to-plastic-pollution/
Plastic pollution is an issue that more Americans are paying attention to, largely due to the efforts of organizations working on the
issue, and the excellent documentary film making and media coverage on the subject. It’s a fundamental Lorax-type tale. We are
wrecking the oceans – and now our food, due to microplastics attracting and bio-concentrating toxic chemicals in the marine food
chain – because of our addiction to cheap, plastic products and packaging, and a comprehensive global failure to steward these
materials properly. A recent study revealed that 8 million tons of plastic waste flows into our oceans each year, enough to cover every foot of coastline in the world.
While there’s been a significant amount of progress and awareness-raising through the campaigns to date around plastic bags, polystyrene take-out containers, and
microbeads, these efforts admittedly are not the ultimate solution. UPSTREAM believes that the fundamental problem is the lack of responsibility from consumer goods
companies for the plastic pollution (and other downstream impacts) caused by their decisions, their products and their packaging – worldwide.
This issue is revealed in Technicolor through a visit to almost any developing nation in the world. The same corporations that sell 95% of what’s in between the dairy aisle to the
produce aisle in US grocery stores, are now working to sell into developing markets where there is little to no solid waste, recycling or litter prevention infrastructure. Up until
recently, in many of these places, “packaging” meant something organic to be tossed anywhere when finished with the product.
Now, P&G, Unilever, PepsiCo and other consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs) are selling products wrapped in plastic without a second thought as to what will happen
to the package when these “new customers” are finished with the product. And we see the result – Rivers of plastic. Flowing to the ocean.
Add to that what’s happening in developed countries, with infinitely more goods and services being exchanged, and the failure of these same companies to pay for the costs of
proper stewardship of these plastic materials, and you have a similar, if less-pronounced, mechanism for plastic pollution further contaminating aquatic and marine
environments.So how do we solve it?To date, the discussions have focused on two strategies 1) cleaning the oceans of debris and 2) preventing the pollution in the first place.
Many people around the world were distracted by the internet story of a student developing a technology to skim the plastic out of the ocean gyres. Problem solved, right? While
there are number of sincere people pursuing technologies to clean the oceans, even they admit that these will do nothing if we don’t first stop the ongoing pollution at the

The reality is that the only sound strategies to stop plastic pollution are ones that
source.

prevent it in the first place. To use the bathtub analogy, in order to stop the tub from over-flowing, we can either try to
make the tub drain faster, or we can just shut off the tap. In order to legitimately tackle the problem, strategies must work to stem the
tide of plastic pollution in both developed and developing countries. The developed world has the resources
to tackle this problem, while the developing world does not. Efforts must be made to design and export the appropriate low-cost and workable strategies from the developed
world to developing countries. Furthermore, it is imperative to create funding sources to deploy strategies and technologies in the developing world to address the structural

challenges which are too great for nations with few resources to address. Here’s the start of a solutions list:
1. Ditch single-use-plastic. As a recent colleague who is in his 60s mentioned, “We didn’t have this problem when I was a kid. There wasn’t all this single-use

Single-use
disposable plastic. Everything was in glass, paper, steel or aluminum. This is a problem that’s been created in my lifetime.”

disposable plastic items (SUDS) are the largest contributors to marine plastic
pollution. Communities, institutions, businesses, governments and individuals can all take steps to minimize the use of SUDS, seeking reusable
alternatives and ways of delivering and consuming goods and services that minimize the use of materials that have a high tendency to end up as plastic pollution.
 1. Ban and/or substitute the worst offenders.Through the International Coastal Cleanup day, the Ocean Conservancy captured data on
the top items which make up the majority of beach litter and marine plastic pollution. It makes sense to push for the

development and deployment of alternatives and new technologies to reduce or

eliminate these sources of pollution. When there are readily-available alternatives or technologies at comparable cost, bans on
the worst offenders are a no-brainer. These include bans on items like single-use-disposable plastic shopping bags and polystyrene take-out containers. The good
news is that these are inexpensive policies to implement and can be adopted in developing and developed nations alike, with the only costs being enforcement.
In the United States, much of the energy around policies to tackle plastic pollution has stemmed from a California-based campaign known as the Clean Seas Coalition (CSC).
Comprised of nearly 30 groups, including community and state groups, and national organizations, the CSC has been a remarkable force for change. Prior to the statewide
California ban on single-use disposable bags, which is the coalition’s biggest success to date, they had succeeded in passing community bag and polystyrene bans for a
majority of the state’s population. UPSTREAM’s board member, Leslie Tamminen, was instrumental in developing the CSC.

1. Innovate to replace the worst offenders. Thanks to the growing concern about plastic pollution around the world,
entrepreneurs are innovating to create biodegradable materials that can replace the worst offenders . Often the challenge is not in

the creation of the materials themselves, but in getting them picked up and used
by major corporations. One of UPSTREAM’s advisory board members, Daniella Russo, heads up an organization called Think Beyond
Plastic, which acts as an accelerator and forum for the deployment of technologies to solve plastic pollution. A great example of a technology innovation is

While consumer goods

Ecovative’s compostable mushroom foam which can replace polystyrene for food-contact applications.

companies and restaurant chains ultimately need to invest in these technologies,

developed and developing countries, as well as local jurisdictions, can pass
policies to support their widespread adoption at little to no cost.
1. Scale up best practices around recycling and away-from-home collection. It’s no secret that the United States has one of the lowest recycling rates in the
developed world at roughly 34% of what is generated by US households. But communities all over the United States and the world are showing how it can be
done. San Francisco has reached an 80% recycling rate. Cart-based recycling and composting and the cultural support for zero waste is a model that should be
exported to the world. Efforts are afoot to figure out how to utilize the remaining 20%, much of which is low-value plastics without current recycling markets.
Similarly, in order to prevent plastic pollution, we need waste and recycling infrastructure when we’re away from home – in public parks, beaches and along city
sidewalks. Scaling up best practices around recycling and developing away-from-home collection infrastructure is expensive and will be more challenging for the
developing world to implement than the developed. As is the case in Europe and gradually more of the developed world, funding for recycling infrastructure – and
outreach and education – should increasingly come from the companies that produce packaging through extended producer responsibility (EPR). Container
deposits – a.k.a. “bottle bills” – are a highly successful form of EPR, which create incentives for the prevention and cleanup of litter and should be considered as a
high-leverage tool to prevent plastic pollution.

1. Scale up best practices around storm-water management to capture plastics before they enter the environment. Significant amounts of plastic are removed
through installing and maintaining storm-water capture devices, street-sweeping and storm drain cleaning and maintenance. While these are admittedly “the last
stop” before plastics enter the environment, and should not be pursued as the only approach, they are an important part of the solution especially in developed
countries. The challenge is that these approaches are expensive to implement and require significant amounts of ongoing funding.

1. Invest in solid-waste and recycling infrastructure in the developing world. No set of strategies to tackle plastic pollution would be complete without looking at the
biggest source of plastic pollution by far – and that is the lack of solid waste, recycling and litter prevention infrastructure in the developing world.A recent
comprehensive study inScience magazine lists the top 20 countries that are the major global contributors to marine plastic pollution. The United States is number
20 and is the only developed country on the list. For those of you who might want to vilify China, consider that much of the developed world’s recyclables are
shipped to China for processing and use. We would argue that the largest source of marine plastic pollution has been created by the world’s major consumer
goods companies – by selling goods wrapped in plastic into developing countries without a second thought as to what will happen to the package when their “new
customers” are finished with the product.

2.
Price on plastic? If ever there was an issue ripe for extended producer responsibility, it’s marine plastic pollution. I recently attended SUSTPACK – the one major US trade show
devoted to sustainable packaging – and I heard Ted Siegler, a global consultant on solid waste and recycling issues, describe how a penny per pound levy on new plastics
could generate $5 billion annually to pay for the creation of solid waste and recycling infrastructure in the developing world. These same companies that sell goods wrapped in
plastic worldwide need to create an investment tool for the developing world to ensure that plastics are stewarded instead of ending up as pollution.

Advantage 2: Reduction of waste in landfills

Subpoint A Link and Brink: Landfills are full of unrecycled plastic
Columbia University, January 2012
http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2012/01/31/what-happens-to-all-that-plastic/

What would modern life be like without plastic? According to the United Nations
Environmental Programme, global plastic consumption has gone from 5.5 million tons in
the 1950s to 110 million tons in 2009. Where does all this plastic go when we’re done
with it?
Today Americans discard about 33.6 million tons of plastic each year, but only 6.5
percent of it is recycled and 7.7 percent is combusted in waste-to-energy facilities, which
create electricity or heat from garbage.
The rest ends up in landfills where it may take up to 1,000 years to decompose, and
potentially leak pollutants into the soil and water. It’s estimated that there are also 100 millions tons of plastic debris floating
around in the oceans threatening the health and safety of marine life.
Relatively little plastic is recycled because there are various types of plastic with
different chemical compositions, and recycled plastics can be contaminated by the mixing of types. Plastic waste is also contaminated by
materials such as paper and ink. Separating plastics from non-plastics in the recycling process, and different types of plastic from each other is labor-intensive and so far, there
has been no easy solution.
Although the Society of Plastic Industries developed seven codes to distinguish types of plastic for recycling, in reality, only two—polyethylene terephthalate (PET, used for
synthetic fibers and water bottles) and high density polyethylene (HDPE, used for jugs, bottle caps, water pipes)—are routinely recycled. In more and more cities like New York
and Chicago, low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic bags are now being recycled too. And increasingly the recycling industry’s use of near‐ infrared spectroscopy, which can
identify the chemical composition of plastics, is improving the efficiency and speed of plastic recycling.
Plastics that can be recycled are first sorted, shredded and rid of impurities like paper. The shreds are then melted and formed into pellets, which can be made into other
products.
AERT in Arkansas, and Virginia-based Trexrecycle polyethylene into outdoor decking material, fencing, and doors and windows. Coca Cola is recycling its PET bottles and
opened the world’s largest bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in Spartanburg, SC to produce 100 million pounds of recycled plastic each year.
Plastic is made from petroleum or natural gas in a chemical process that combines smaller molecules into a large chainlike molecule, often with other substances added to give
Plastic production is estimated to use 8
it particular qualities. Some, like phthalates and bisphenol A, can have harmful health effects.

percent of yearly global oil production—both as the raw material and for energy in the
manufacturing process. Because plastics embody energy from fossil fuels (and actually
have a higher energy value than coal), leaving so much of it in landfills is not only an
environmental hazard, it is a huge waste of a valuable resource that could be used to
produce electricity, heat, or fuel.
The Plastics Division of the American Chemical Council asked the Earth Institute’s Earth Engineering Center to explore ways of recovering the energy inherent in non-recycled
plastics. The resulting report, released in August 2011,[it was] determined that the amount of energy
contained in the millions of tons of plastic in U.S. landfills is equivalent to 36.7 million tons of coal, 139 million barrels
of oil, or 783 billion cubic feet of natural gas. If all this plastic were converted into liquid fuel, it could power all the cars in Los Angeles

for a year. And the fact is, there are now technologies that can put all this waste plastic to good use.
The report examined three ways of utilizing non-recycled plastic for energy production: converting plastics directly into liquid fuel, using separated plastics as fuel in special
types of power plants, and increasing the amount of garbage burned (currently only 10 percent) in waste-to-energy facilities.
Plastics can be converted into crude oil or other types of liquid fuel through pyrolysis, a high heat process. Agilyx, an Oregon-based company, produces processing systems
that convert ground unsorted plastic of all types into synthetic crude oil (which can be refined into ultra-low sulfur diesel, gasoline, or jet fuel), as well as synthetic lubricants and
greases, some of which can be made back into plastic. The units are designed to go where the plastic is: municipal waste facilities, waste management companies, and
recyclers. The base system can convert 10 tons of plastic into 60 barrels of oil each day for about $60 a barrel; so with oil currently selling at around $99 a barrel, it’s definitely
cost-effective.

Subpoint B Impact: Biodegradables decompose substantially faster

Worldcentric.Org
http://worldcentric.org/biocompostables/bioplastics
Compostable PlasticsCompostable Plastics are a new generation of plastics which are biodegradable through composting. They are derived generally from renewable raw
materials like starch (e.g. corn, potato, tapioca etc), cellulose, soy protein, lactic acid etc., are not hazardous/toxic in production and decompose back into carbon dioxide, water,
biomass etc. when composted. Some compostable plastics may not be derived from renewable materials, but instead derived made from petroleum or made by bacteria
through a process of microbial fermentation.Currently, there are a number of different compostable plastics resins available in the market and the number is growing every day.
The most commonly used raw material for making the compostable plastics is corn starch, which is converted into a polymer with similar properties as normal plastic products.
Other compostable resins are available made from potato starch, soybean protein, cellulose and as well from petroleum and petroleum by products. It is counter intuitive to think
that compostable resins could be derived from petroleum, when all normal plastic products are derived from petroleum and are non compostable. However, there are certified
compostable resins available in the market, derived from petroleum and the field of compostable plastics is constantly evolving with new materials and technologies being
worked on and being brought to market. There is even research underway to make compostable plastics from carbon dioxide.Properties The compostable resins for the most
part mimic plastic properties, and different resins have different properties related to heat resistance, tensile strength, impact resistance, MVTR, oxygen barrier etc. One of the
main compostable resin PLA, for example has a heat resistance of only 110F, while other compostable resins can have a much higher heat resistance.

Biodegradability & Compostability

Bioplastics can take different length of times to totally compost, based on the material and are meant to be composted in a commercial composting facility,
where higher composting temperatures can be reached and is between 90-180 days[to completely break down]. Most existing
international standards require biodegradation of 60% within 180 days along with certain other criteria for the resin or product to be called compostable. It is important to make
the distinction between degradable, biodegradable and compostable. These terms are often (incorrectly) used interchangeably.Compostable Plastic is plastic which is "capable
of undergoing biological decomposition in a compost site as part of an available program, such that the plastic is not visually distinguishable and breaks down to carbon dioxide,
water, inorganic compounds, and biomass, at a rate consistent with known compostable materials (e.g. cellulose). and leaves no toxic residue." American Society for Testing &
Materials (ASTM). In order for a plastic to be called compostable, three criteria need to be met:Biodegrade - break down into carbon dioxide, water, biomass at the same rate
as cellulose (paper).Disintegrate - the material is indistinguishable in the compost, that it is not visible and needs to be screened outEco-toxicity - the biodegradation does not
produce any toxic material and the compost can support plant growth.

Biodegradable Plastic is plastic which will degrade from the action of naturally occurring
microorganism, such as bacteria, fungi etc. over a period of time.[rather than it
continuing to break down into smaller pieces] Note, that there is no requirement for leaving "no toxic residue", and as well as no
requirement for the time it needs to take to biodegrade.Degradable Plastic is plastic which will undergo a significant change in its chemical structure under specific
environmental conditions resulting in a loss of some properties. Please note that there is no requirement that the plastic has to be degrade from the action of "naturally
occurring microorganism" or any of the other criteria required for compostable plastics.A plastic therefore may be degradable but not biodegradable or it may be biodegradable
but not compostable (that is, it breaks down too slowly to be called compostable or leaves toxic residue).

Advantage 3: Reduction of CO2 Emissions

Subpoint A Harms: Current plastics release excessive amounts of CO2

Plastic Pollution Coallition, 2015

http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/pft/2015/11/17/plastic-pollution-and-
climate-change

The link between plastic pollution and climate change should become more apparent as
a result of the talks. Both are of breathtaking significance in terms of the billions/trillions of dollars people will increasingly be forced to pay toward their
mitigation and repair. You might say plastic pollution is the stepmother of all economic
externalities.

But whereas we will get an agreement on climate change, we aren't even planning a
global conference to talk about one to fight plastic pollution.

Imagine a Venn diagram of two overlapping circles. One circle represents "plastic pollution" and the other, "climate change." Where they intersect, you could write the words
"fossil fuels." Such a visual tautology could be useful in drawing the connection between these two gigantic problems, though its a simplification. But, as the Environmental
Protection Agency states on its website, their link is unequivocal:

Most direct emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels for energy. A smaller amount, roughly a third,

come from leaks from natural gas and petroleum systems, the use of fuels in production (e.g., petroleum products used to make plastics), and chemical reactions during the
production of chemicals, iron and steel, and cement.

Except for the minuscule amount of plastics derived from plant-based feedstocks, plastics are made from fossil fuels like oil and
natural gas, which release toxic emissions when extracted from the earth. Drilling puts
pollutants such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, benzene, ozone and others into
the air. Methane gas can leak during production, which causes even worse greenhouse effects than carbon dioxide.

Plastic manufacturing is estimated to use 8 percent of yearly global oil production. The
EPA estimates as many as five ounces of carbon dioxide are emitted for each ounce of
polyethylene (PET) produced—the type of plastic most commonly used for beverage
bottles.
The burning of fossil fuels is how the United States, China and other developed countries
industrialized, and it follows they would be the second and first worst contributors to
climate change, respectively. And when they reached a certain level of industrialization, massive amounts of disposable plastics began flowing into

their economies—water bottles, bags, to-go containers and utensils—items that earmark a consumer culture.

Subpoint C Impact: Production of Biodegradable Plastic produce signifigantly

less CO2

Solegear, 2017 http://solegear.ca/social-responsibility/co2-emissions/

At over 400 parts per million, CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere are at

an all-time high. (NOAA). While we can continue to debate who’s to blame, what’s

undeniable is that these emissions are having an impact on the equilibrium of our planet.

Companies can make a big difference by scrutinizing their products and processes to

curb their emissions. Customers can help by choosing products and services from

companies who are taking end-to-end responsibility for the products they sell.

Bioplastics take less fossil fuel energy to produce and reduce CO2 emissions by as

much as 60%* during manufacturing. Making the switch to bioplastics can be one of the

easiest ways we can dramatically reduce our environmental impact.