How to spot fake plastic.

Cellophane is a biodegradable polymer based on cellulose. It’s made from renewable resources and it is compostable. They only problem is getting a hold of the stuff…

BLOODY hell I am starting to get annoyed with humans. No, not the delightful young lady one in the picture above. I’m only using her to get your attention. Rather, I’m referring to all the blasted cretins on ebay like this one who are now selling ordinary polypropylene rolls, sheets and bags and claiming that they are cellophane.

Kindly stop selling your junky cheap-shit plastic and palming it off as cellophane. Real cellophane burns. It doesn’t melt. It doesn’t shrivel up into a little goopy ball of muck when you heat it. It is supposed to deteriorate naturally and that’s why we buy it. It degrades and because of that, it’s better for the environment.

Feeling quite fed up, here’s what I ended up sending someone today:

Right. So don’t you think you should change the title of your listing to polypropylene?
Because what you are doing now is false advertising, which in this country is illegal.

And why am I making such a fuss?
Because cellophane is a more biodegradable eco-friendly material and polypropylene isn’t it.
And I doubt most florists would know the difference.

And here was the reply:

Thank you for your advice.We have noted “Quality polypropylene” in my ebay description.
As every florists does the calls,so if change the title,many people don’t know what it is.
Thank you for your professionalism and your purchase.

That’s my point exactly. People don’t know what it is. That’s why they get taken advantage of by scum like you.

Florists, I know you’re trying to be green, don’t just assume what you’re getting is real cellophane. Test it out. Burn some. The best website I found to determine cellophane from other plastics is this one.

If you’re using this fake stuff, it’ll take thousands of years to degrade. Real cellophane will be returned to the Earth within a few months. I don’t accept that the real gift, the flowers, will disappear long before the packaging. I think that’s worth blogging about.