Biodegradable bag

In the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, biodegradable plastics break up into small pieces that can more easily enter the food chain by being consumed.

Further, the Biodegradable Plastics Institute (BPI) says that the formulation of additives in oxo films varies greatly, which introduces even more variability in the recycling process.

Since many of these plastics require access to sunlight, oxygen, or lengthy periods of time to achieve degradation or biodegradation, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, commonly called the "green guide",[7] require proper marking of these products to show their performance limits.

The marketer relies on soil burial tests to show that the product will decompose in the presence of water and oxygen.

The trash bags are customarily disposed of in incineration facilities or at sanitary landfills that are managed in a way that inhibits degradation by minimizing moisture and oxygen.

In 2007, the State of California essentially made the term "biodegradable bags" illegal,[8] unless such terms are "substantiated by competent and reliable evidence to prevent deceiving or misleading consumers about environmental impact of degradable, compostable, and biodegradable plastic bags, food service ware, and packaging."