Now that's a lot of bottles

Team Milram will be using biodegradable bottles this year. But what really strikes me is the quantity -- 25,000. Wow.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/milr...-water-bottles

I bet a TdF team goes through 3,000+ bottles just during the race.

The resulting litter is a real problem. The Cascade Classic here in Bend gets really nasty with riders and teams who throw bottles any place except near course marshalls and feed zones. Apparently, several races no longer were able to get permits due to the trash produced by the teams.

At least they don't leave used syringes behind like in the old days...

Question to the chemists here...

Are the broken down components of the bio-degradable plastic safe for the environment? I sort of remember about a stink over some bio-degradable material posing environmental problem once they broke down.

Bio-degradable plastic is NOT a solution. I really hate the idea of disposable mentality.

"Waste not want not"

According to the article, it's harmless. But they don't go into a heckuva lot of detail about it.

What I've read about the "biodegradable" plastics is that they will biodegrade only under industrial composting conditions with controlled temperature and moisture.

But how harmful they are if they're just allowed to break up and become incorporated into the soil, I don't know.