by Kimberly Ann

Created on: January 20, 2011

While the masses may want to scream “YES!” to making almost every aspect of our life more “eco-friendly”, simply deeming a product “biodegradable” does not ensure “eco-friendliness”.  Biodegradable, if you break it down, simply refers to something that is degradable by some naturally occurring biological process.  “Eco-friendly”, as it sounds, means friendly to the environment.  Many people use these terms interchangeably, thinking “if it breaks down naturally, how can that be bad for the environment?”  Sometimes, no damage occurs from biodegradation, but not always.  Will legislating “biodegradable cleaning products” automatically mean they are “eco-friendly”?  Not necessarily.

When an item biodegrades, it is broken down into materials found naturally in the environment.  As they biodegrade, they turn into basic elemental compounds-most commonly carbon and water.  However, many times, they release a significant amount of methane gas.  This is most common when the products are disposed of in a landfill, where they are usually not capable of biodegradation.  In a landfill, they decompose more slowly, if at all.  The reason for this is that oxygen is required for the process of biodegradation and landfills, by design, do not allow the necessary oxygenation for this process to occur completely.  Ask anyone who lives near, or has driven by, a landfill and they can tell you about the release of the methane gas.  Besides being unpleasant to the nose, methane gas is one of the major contributing factors to the “greenhouse effect” environmentalists and ecologists denounce. 

Cleaning products also frequently occur in liquid form.  As such, they are often disposed of in ways that make biodegradation difficult.  Many times, they are used in conjunction with paper towels, which are then discarded into the trash. These often end up in landfills, where the biodegradation process is difficult, if not impossible.  If the cleaner is in a concentrated form, and a large quantity is mixed, the left-over or used remainder gets poured down the drain or flushed down the toilet.  This process introduces the cleaner into the waste-water system, where an unknown number of chemical reactions can occur. Many local water treatment facilities are requesting that consumers not dispose of medications,

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