Studies have shown that there is little risk posed by biodegradation of biodegradable plastics in landfills (Kolstad, Vink, De Wilde, Debeer: Assessment of anaerobic degradation of Ingeo® polylactides under accelerated landfill conditions, 2012). Most bioplastics remain inert in landfills.
Landfilling remains a widely applied method of waste treatment in Europe. Forty-two percent of all post consumer plastics waste in Europe is still buried in landfills, which means that the material value or the energy value of the waste remain unused. Therefore, European Bioplastics supports a restriction on landfilling of recyclable plastic waste in Europe in favour of strengthening measures to strengthen the recycling and recovery of plastics.