Compostable Packaging: The Pros and Cons in 2023 - Sifted

Compostable Packaging: The Pros and Cons in 2023 - Sifted

What is Compostable Packaging?

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

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Unfortunately, these materials have a very short usability lifetime, typically around six months or less. This creates an opportunity for businesses to explore alternative solutions like compostable packaging.

Compostable packaging can enhance the end-of-life performance of packaging materials significantly.

This type of packaging is created from various natural materials, including sugar cane, corn starch, potato starch, and wood pulp.

It has become a popular sustainable option because microorganisms can break down compostable materials into compost—a valuable fertilizer that enriches plants and soil. By promoting composting, we can help reduce the substantial amount of plastic pollution that ends up in waterways and landfills.

While home composting may take up to 180 days for organic waste to turn into compost, industrial composting facilities can reduce this time to just three months.

In this article, we will 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 is important to invest in compostable packaging solutions appropriate for your product and logistics.

Fortunately, several packaging materials are compostable, including:

• Cardboard and Paper: Cardboard made from organic materials can be composted by simply placing it into a compost pile. Ensure only clean cardboard is added to compost bins, as chemically treated cardboard can contaminate the compost and reduce its value.
• Cost of compostable cardboard boxes from EcoEnclose varies by dimensions:
  • 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 traditional polyethylene plastic wraps. Compostable bubble wraps are made from cornstarch polylactic acid (PLA) polymers and can completely degrade within 90 to 180 days.
• Cost of a 50cm x 50cm roll of compostable bubble wrap is around $49.
• Cornstarch: Cornstarch packaging materials are a viable alternative to styrofoam and plastics. These materials are made from bio-based plastics like PLA that can turn into nutrient-rich biomass via composting.
• Cost of a compostable cornstarch bag ranges from $0.10 to $0.40.

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

Are Compostable Utensils Really Compostable?

Compostable utensils go by various names, from the catchy (TaterWare, WheatWare, SpudWare) to the more descriptive (Compostable utensils, PLA utensils, etc.). While they are presented as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics, very few can truly be composted in real-world situations.

TaterWare

For instance, TaterWare is made from potato starch. Many eateries in San Francisco offer this brand for take-out cutlery, confident because San Francisco’s new composting law should facilitate actual composting. However, even if the utensils reach the compost facility, there's little chance they will completely break down.

Photos shared by a program manager from Golden Gate Disposal and Recycling show TaterWare after undergoing the city’s commercial composting process (60-90 days):

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Let me emphasize: these photos were taken AFTER commercial composting at high temperatures. We know these products will not break down in a backyard compost, and it seems they won’t break down in a commercial compost either. As Chris from Golden Gate Disposal noted, "Above is the purported biodegradable TaterWare. It may take millennia to break down in geologic time, which is not demonstrated in a composting operation."

WheatWare

Last fall, at the SF Green Festival, I encountered vendors selling another product: WheatWare. I shared what I had learned about TaterWare, and they confidently claimed that WheatWare was different. They even said that they tested it by burying it in their backyard. So, understandably, I assumed I could replicate their results.

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

Approximately 90 days later, I dug it up.

Not much had changed. It still looked and felt like a comb, perhaps a tiny bit softer. To be fair, I cannot confirm how WheatWare would behave in a commercial compost facility. But to be equally fair, how many people in the U.S. have access to a commercial compost facility?

What happens when these materials are released into the environment? Specifically, if they enter the ocean like any other type of plastic? If they don't break down in soil or in the high heat of a composting operation, they certainly won't decompose in cold seawater. They are likely to photodegrade into smaller pieces that marine animals can ingest.

We should reconsider investing materials and energy into creating single-use disposable items in the first place. I will have more to say about biodegradable and compostable bioplastics in a future post. But for now, what is the alternative to any type of disposable utensils? Bring our own reusables!

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