While biodegradable plastics are appealing in concept, there are some practical issues in their application at this time.
Biodegradable plastics will not degrade unless they are composted. Most consumers do not have composting systems in their homes, and very few cities offer curbside composting services.

As a result, these materials typically end up either in a landfill or in the recycling stream. In a landfill, biodegradable plastics (and other biodegradable materials) will not degrade for a long time, since landfills are designed to prevent decay and thus keep contaminants from leaching into surrounding areas. In the recycling stream, these plastics are contaminants, making it more difficult to sort and process the recyclable plastics.

In addition, it is still not clear whether biodegradable plastics ultimately do more harm than good. At this time, it appears bioplastics would require huge amounts of additional crop-dedicated land to grow the raw materials (e.g., corn), and converting these large tracts of land to agricultural usage may have profoundly detrimental impacts on their ecosystems. Biodegradation may itself also emit harmful GHGs.

FIJI Water will continue to monitor the development of biodegradable plastic technology with interest. However, FIJI Water prioritizes the safety of its product for consumption and the well-being of its consumers, and the company will not change the packaging material from PET to anything else unless the new material can preserve the integrity of the product at a level comparable to PET, and results in a post-consumer environmental impact that is comparable to or better than that of recycled PET.

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