What is Compostable Packaging?

Plastic packaging materials like parcels, stickers, and polythene bags account for 42% of all plastic produced worldwide.

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Unfortunately, it has a very short usability lifetime (typically around 6 months or less). This is where businesses can take advantage of alternative solutions, like compostable packaging.

In fact, compostable packaging has the potential to extend the end-of-life performance of packaging materials.

Compostable packaging is a form of packaging made from various natural materials such as sugar cane, corn starch, potato starch, and wood pulp.

It is a popular sustainable packaging option because microorganisms can break down compostable materials into compost, a valuable fertilizer that enriches plants and soil. This helps reduce a large portion of plastic pollution by driving it away from waterways and landfills.

With home composting, the decomposition of organic waste into compost may take up to 180 days, but industrial composting facilities can decrease this time to 3 months.

In this article, we&#;ll cover everything you need to know about compostable packaging.

 

What Kind of Materials Can Be Composted?

Traditional packaging options can be extremely wasteful and harm ecosystems. For that reason, it&#;s important to invest in compostable packaging options that are right for your product and logistics.

Fortunately, several packaging solutions are compostable. These include:

Cardboard and paper: Cardboard made from organic materials can be composted by simply putting it into a compost pile. Only add clean cardboard to compost bins because cardboard treated with chemicals can contaminate the compost and decrease its value.

A compostable cardboard box from EcoEnclose costs between $0.62 and $3.17, depending on the box dimensions.

DimensionsPrice 4" x 4" x 4"$0.62 8" x 8" x 4"$1.89 12" x 10" x 5"$3.17

Bubble wrap: Plant-based bubble wrap rolls are more eco-friendly than the traditional PE plastic ones. Compostable bubble wraps are made up of cornstarch polylactic acid polymers (PLA), and they can be completely degraded within 90 to 180 days.

A 50cm x 50cm roll compostable bubble wrap roll costs around $49.

Cornstarch: Cornstarch packaging materials are a viable alternative to styrofoam and plastics. They are developed from bio-based plastics, like PLA, that can be turned into nutrient-rich biomass through composting.

A compostable cornstarch bag costs between $0.10 to $0.40.

In addition, other eco-friendly packaging options are available for parcel shipping, such as Kraft paper rolls, postal tubes, tissue paper, and compostable mailers and envelopes.

Are Compostable Utensils Really Compostable?

Their names range from the catchy (TaterWare, WheatWare, SpudWare) to the merely descriptive (Compostable utensils, PLA utensils, etc.) And while they are touted as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics, very few of them are actually compostable in a real world situation.

TaterWare

Take, for example, TaterWare, made from potato starch, of course. Many of the eateries in San Francisco provide this brand of take-out cutlery and feel good about it because with San Francisco&#;s new composting law, these things have the best shot at actually being composted. Trouble is, even if the utensils make it to the compost facility, there is little chance they will truly break down all the way.

A program manager from Golden Gate Disposal and Recycling sent me the following photos of TaterWare that had been through the city&#;s commercial compost operation (60-90 days):

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Let me reiterate: These photos were taken AFTER commercial composting at high heat. We know these things won&#;t break down in a backyard compost. Turns out they won&#;t break down in a commercial compost either.  As Chris from Golden Gate Disposal wrote me, &#;Above is the purported &#;biodegradable&#; taterware.   I guess it may be in geologic time frames, (millennia) although not demonstrably in a composting operation.&#;

WheatWare

Last fall, at the SF Green Festival, I met a couple of vendors selling a different product: WheatWare.

I mentioned what I had learned about TaterWare, and they assured me that WheatWare was different.  In fact, they claimed, before deciding to carry the product in their eco store, they themselves had tested it out  by simply burying it in their backyard.  So, I  should be able to duplicate their results, right?

I buried the comb in my front yard (deeper than what you see in the photo) and covered it up with a brick.

This morning (approximately 90 days later) I dug it up.

Not much difference. It still looks and feels like a comb. It might be a tiny bit softer. If I squint. To be fair, I don&#;t know what would happen to the WheatWare at a commercial compost facility. But also to be fair, how many people in the U.S. have access to a commercial compost facility in the first place???

So what happens when this stuff gets loose in the environment? Specifically what happens if it makes its way to the ocean like any other type of plastic? If it doesn&#;t break down in the ground or in the high heat of a compost operation, it&#;s sure not going to break down in cold sea water.  It&#;ll photodegrade into smaller pieces, for sure. Pieces that sea animals can swallow.

And why are we investing materials and energy into creating single-use disposable items in the first place?  I&#;ve got more to say about biodegradable/compostable bio-plastics in a future post. But for right now &#; what&#;s the alternative to disposable utensils of any type? Bring our own Reusables!

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