Basic Information Plastic plays an important role in our lives due to its ability to be functional in many different ways, from plastic water bottles to the rubber in car tires. It seems like everything is made of plastic these days, but what happens once consumers are done with the product? Statistics Canada highlighted that in 2012 Canadians produced, on average, 13.4 million tonnes of waste, 73% of which was sent for disposal. Of the 27% of waste recycled, only 17% of plastic was recycled correctly, with the rest sent to landfill. (Babooram and Wang, 2013). Improper disposal is a problem because plastic, once sent to landfill, is not able to break down completely (Platt, 2001). The logical solution for plastic that doesn't degrade in landfills is to use biodegradable plastic. However, is biodegradable plastic the answer to society's addiction to plastic? There has been debate as to whether the pros of biodegradable plastics outweigh the cons and whether their use will truly make a difference in our world. Survey Results The survey results; Biodegradable plastic has shown that most people are not informed about biodegradable plastic, but they have tried their best to be environmentally conscious. The survey showed that those who knew the definition of biodegradable were more environmentally conscious and had more knowledge on this topic. A trend in the survey was that the older the age group, the more knowledgeable they were about biodegradable plastics. A general trend from the survey showed that many were surprised to learn that biodegradable plastics placed in landfills do not degrade. They also did not know that biodegradable plastic cannot be recycled with normal plastic and will be a kind of... half the paper... of microorganisms, it must be at a certain temperature, humidity and acquire the appropriate nutrients to degrade (Platt, 2001). However, if consumers are not willing to take the time to properly recycle these biodegradable plastics – as shown in the survey – they will end up in landfills and take the same time to degrade as regular plastics (Szaky, 2012). Since plastic never fully degrades, this means that biodegradable plastic won't do well in a landfill. Landfills are specifically designed to be airtight and moisture-free, not even allowing organic materials such as food waste to decompose, even after long periods of time (Di Mungo, 2012). Therefore, consumers' intentions may be good, but if they do not educate themselves about biodegradable plastic and learn how to dispose of it properly, the purpose of plastic being biodegradable is lost..