In college, I drove a little electric truck around campus and picked up bins of fruit and vegetable waste, plant clippings, and coffee grounds, and hauled them to a 50-foot long, 5-foot-tall compost pile at the student farm. Although we asked that our pick-up sites didn&#;t put any post-consumer waste in the bins, &#;compostable&#; plates, cups, and bags inevitably found their way to our pile. And when they did, I&#;d pull them out and throw them in the trash.
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That&#;s the problem with labels like &#;biodegradable&#; or &#;compostable.&#; These products&#;typically made from plant sources, often corn&#;biodegrade eventually, meaning that microbes and other organisms break the materials down into soil. But the environment the products are disposed in matters. As the banana peels and straw morphed into crumbly compost, the &#;compostable&#; bags and &#;biodegradable&#; cups hung around, full intact. They would have decayed if they were sent to a large-scale, industrial recycler, where workers manage the conditions and chemistry of materials, ensuring the frenzied action of millions of microbes capable of breaking down these tough materials. But here? Not for years, if at all.
On Sunday, scientists at the University of Plymouth published a study highlighting the problem of confusing labelling. The researchers tested the degradability of several bioplastic bags&#;with labels like biodegradable and compostable&#;and conventional high-density polyethylene (read: plastic) bags in soil, outdoor air, and marine water. After three years in water and soil, all but the compostable bag were still able to tote a load of groceries. It was still around after 27 months underground, but easily tore apart.
&#;In day-to-day living, [these labels are] misleading,&#; says Imogen Napper, lead author and marine scientist. While the products are intended for an industrial composter, that&#;s not where most of them are going. Napper argues consumers are misled by the labels into thinking that the products do readily decay in natural environments like the ones she tested, when the reality is that the timeline from product to soil can be many years. &#;When it says biodegradable or compostable, what&#;s the time frame that you think of for a product in the natural environment?&#; she says. &#;For me, it would be days to months. As soon as you start to say two years to three years, does that have any meaningful advantage to the environment? I&#;d argue not.&#;
Headlines about the study have echoed that sentiment, such as Vice&#;s &#;Biodegradable Plastic Bags Aren&#;t Better For The Environment.&#; Most of the reports focused on the fact that the biodegradable bags could still carry groceries after three years underground. But, as alarming as that finding is, the reality is a bit more complex.
It starts with the difference between labels. In theory, &#;biodegradable&#; and &#;compostable&#; should mean the same thing&#;that organisms in the soil can break down a product. But the truth is that &#;biodegradable&#; gives you the same amount of information as the label &#;natural&#; on a food item does, says Kate Bailey, policy and research director at Eco-Cycle, a nonprofit recycling organization. Biodegradable simply means that at some unspecified time in the future&#;months, years, decades, who knows!&#;the product will break down.
To continue the food analogy, the term &#;compostable&#; is more like &#;organic,&#; in that regulators are trying to ensure it meets certain standards, though what exactly those standards are is still a work-in-progress. When a product carries the label of &#;certified compostable,&#; that means when you send it to an industrial facility, it becomes compost in about the same amount of time as other things in the pile like food waste and yard clippings&#;usually between 90 and 180 days. There are a few third-party verifications of this, including one by the ASTM International, an organization that develops standards for thousands of products and services. &#;We are definitely seeing some movement toward &#;this [label] needs to mean something,&#; and it can&#;t just be getting thrown out there and confusing consumers,&#; says Bailey.
But biodegradable remains a stress-inducing word for composters, Bailey adds. &#;There&#;s a lot of concern about the labelling,&#; she adds. &#;Composters want it to be certified compostable&#;biodegradable doesn&#;t work for them.&#; Really, biodegradable is just another greenwashed phrase, one companies use to make us feel good about a pricey purchase, even though its environmental benefit isn&#;t actually clear.
Some agencies are taking action. The Federal Trade Commision in its most recent &#;Green Guides&#; says that &#;degradable claims&#; need to backed up by &#;competent and reliable scientific evidence that the entire item will completely&#; decompose into elements found in nature within a reasonably short period of time after customary disposal.&#; California is also cracking down on decomposition deception. The state has banned sales of products marketed as &#;biodegradable&#;, &#;compostable,&#; etc. unless they have evidence to prove it. The Golden State has a $1.5 million settlement coming its way after district attorneys sued Amazon for selling products with misleading labels, including &#;biodegradable.&#;
By now, you might be questioning the little green bags you use to line the compost bin on your kitchen counter or the eco-friendly foodware at your office, wondering if it&#;s all a waste of money. If your city does partner with a composter, like San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland do, great! There&#;s a dedicated place where these products can go to become soil. Just double check the label. &#;Look for the certified compostable label,&#; says Bailey.
But what if you&#;re among the roughly 95 percent of households that don&#;t have such a service available? Even if a product is &#;certified compostable,&#; it might not be preferable to plastic. Right now, a lot of compostable bags, cups, and foodware are made from corn, and that process has all sorts of environmental impacts, from the pesticides that leach into rivers to the greenhouse gases emitted from plants manufacturing the products. &#;There&#;s a lot of hope that we can make compostable plastic out of things like mushrooms, algae, or hemp&#;things that could be much more beneficial than plastic,&#; says Bailey, &#;But right now &#; with most things coming from corn, it&#;s not clear that there really is much of a benefit [compared to plastic].&#;
Research from the Oregon Department of Environment Quality underscores this point. Scientists reviewed previous life cycle assessments of different &#;packing attributes&#;&#;labels like &#;recycled content,&#; &#;biobased,&#; and our friend &#;compostable.&#; Each study analyzed the product&#;s environmental impacts across its &#;life,&#; from manufacture to disposal. The analysis concluded that compostable products aren&#;t an easy answer to plastics. &#;Many compostable packages are made of biobased materials and inherit the significant environmental burdens from their production,&#; the authors wrote. &#;These burdens are often much greater that the offset benefits that composting provides.&#;
Much of the environment impacts of these greenwashed products arise from their production. As a factsheet for the study states, &#;39 percent of our domestic greenhouse gas emissions take place before a product even reaches a consumer, and only 2 percent of GHG emissions occurs from disposal (landfill, compost and incineration).&#;
Still, these life cycle assessments largely ignore what happens when an item doesn&#;t stick to its ideal disposal route, whether that&#;s a landfill, recycler, or compost pile. But plenty of plastic veers off course each year. In , one study found that 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic debris wound up in the ocean. And plastic in the environment doesn&#;t decompose&#;it just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces with the same chemical structure. These microplastics are a problem because they&#;re near-impossible to clean up and are eaten by marine life, even ending up in the fish we eat&#;and, as a result, inside our own bodies.
Compostable products could have an edge when it comes to curbing this ocean plastic disaster. In the study from University of Plymouth, compostable bags dissolved in marine water within three months. So, while they might not be beneficial from a life cycle perspective, they&#;re perhaps less harmful to marine organisms.
While there are many ways to weigh the impacts of conventional plastic versus biodegradable alternatives, there is one clear route to win on all environmental fronts. It&#;s the one you&#;ve heard before: cut back on plastic, especially single-use items, and you&#;ll create less litter and use fewer resources. But for those situations when you can&#;t avoid disposable bags, cups, or plates, &#;more clear labelling standards [for compostable products] are a great first step,&#; says Bailey.
Every year, humans across the world produce approximately 400 million tonnes of plastic waste. Half of it is single-use, like plastic shopping bags. This plastic finds its way into our rivers and, ultimately, oceans. At last estimate, Earth&#;s largest bodies of water house somewhere between 75 and 199 million tonnes of plastic.
This is terrible for the wildlife that live in these habitats&#;but it&#;s bad for human beings too. Needless to say, many individuals are urgently seeking alternatives to plastic bags. Here are a few reasons why.
Plastic doesn&#;t decompose but, rather, breaks down into tiny particles called &#;microplastics.&#; This plastic waste is entering our bodies through inhalation and absorption. As a result, it&#;s introducing chemicals like methyl mercury, plasticisers, and flame retardants into our bodies. We don&#;t yet know the long-term impact of these chemicals on the human body.
Replacing single-use plastic bags with compostable bags could be one way to dramatically reduce the plastic waste we produce. It can also resolve some of the associated health and environmental impacts.
But how, exactly, are compostable bags better? We&#;ll provide some necessary background on single-use plastic and composting, then discuss our reasoning below.
To curb our addiction to plastic, many governments across the world are banning single-use plastics. In North America, the Government of Canada has a goal of reducing the country&#;s plastic waste to zero by .
The first phase of this journey launched in December . At that time, it implemented a country-wide ban on the manufacture, import and sale of single-use plastic products. This included checkout bags, cutlery, food service wares made from or containing problematic plastics, ring carriers, stir sticks, and straws.
In the United States, many states and territories have banned single-use plastics in varying capacities. Fourteen states and territories have banned single-use shopping bags. Many others have gone beyond just bags to include carryout containers, polystyrene (Styrofoam), and straws.
While these bans are unquestionably a step in the right direction, they also create a gap in the marketplace. In the case of single-use bags, for instance:
Fortunately, compostable bags offer a solution to many of these challenges.
Compostable film products include things like liners for compost bins, shopping bags, food service gloves, cling wrap and produce bags. These are products that can be used to transport compost in community and commercial compost programs.
They&#;re made of compostable resins. They are typically composed of compostable biopolymers, PBAT and PLA. This allows them to decompose as easily as a banana peel.
It&#;s important not to confuse the term &#;compostable&#; with terms like &#;biodegradable&#;, &#;oxo-degradable&#;, or &#;photo-degradable&#;. Products that use these terms often include polyethylene. While they may break down into smaller pieces of plastic, they don&#;t decompose completely like a &#;certified compostable&#; product would.
While compostable bags can decompose completely, they can only do so in a commercial composting facility. That&#;s because it takes a little bit of work, and the right environmental conditions, to break down the resins.
First, the bags need to be ground down into small pieces&#;which accelerates the composting process. From there, they require microorganisms which can only be found in a compost pile. These microorganisms emit enzymes that break the material down further. Lastly, the bags require a level of high heat to be distributed consistently over a specific period.
In the right environment, a certified compostable bag should decompose completely within 10 to 45 days. The actual duration depends on the composting facility&#;s equipment.
The process has only 3 by-products:
As more jurisdictions ban single-use plastic bags, shoppers are encouraged to use reusable plastic woven bags. The thing is, research indicates that most people own plenty of reusable shopping bags. In many cases, people own more than 20! The issue is that they often forget to bring them out when they go shopping.
At this point, shoppers have limited choices. They can purchase a new reusable bag they don&#;t need, which comes with its own environmental impact.
Alternatively, they can purchase a paper bag. Such bags are notoriously terrible for carrying heavy groceries and are often lined, negating their compostable potential.On top of that, they are also made from virgin paper which comes with its own set of environmental concerns.
Compostable shopping bags are just as strong&#;and effective&#;as single-use plastic bags. If shoppers were given this option, they could carry their groceries home in the bag provided. If they chose to, they could use the bag multiple times over the following weeks and months to further maximize its usefulness. They could then use the bag to line their compost bin. Depending on the municipality, they could even use it to collect pet waste. Thanks to the compostability of this product it is the only option that has a sustainable end of life.
This is just one way compostable film products could support the phase-out of single-use plastics. Still, there are many others. For instance, compostable produce bags could be used to replace the thin plastic bags that are currently offered in produce aisles. We could also use them as an extra layer of protection for packaged raw meat in grocery stores.
Compostable cling wrap could help reduce the plastic used in food packaging and storage. Likewise, compostable food service gloves could dramatically reduce the plastic waste created in grocery stores and restaurants.
For more information, please visit Biodegradable Trash Bags 13 Gallon.
Offering a curbside composting program is one thing&#;but getting people to participate? Well, that&#;s quite another.
In many municipalities, existing social behaviors and habits are deeply ingrained. As a result, it can be difficult to encourage households to divert their food waste from the garbage to their green bin.
Part of this solution involves education. It takes a concerted effort to explain why composting matters and how to properly compost (and avoid contamination). But composting also needs to be as easy and convenient as possible. That&#;s where compostable liners come in.
It&#;s possible to throw food waste directly into an under-sink, countertop, or curbside bin without any form of liner. Most people prefer not to because of the mess.
Many paper bags are lined with a non-compostable coating. As a result, they aren&#;t accepted by many commercial composting facilities. Furthermore, non-lined paper bags or newspapers are prone to breakage and leakage. That can also deter some people from composting.
Compostable bags, meanwhile, are leakproof and accepted by many composting facilities. Because they offer a clean composting experience, people are more inclined to compost when using compostable liners. In fact, research shows that compostable liners can lead to above-average municipal composting rates. When you combine this with strong bylaws and education programs, compliance is over 80%!
Composting can be a rather messy undertaking in residential areas. Likewise, it can also get kind of gross in commercial settings. Consider restaurants, grocery stores, and other places that dispose of food waste.
In most cases, municipal curbside composting programs don&#;t visit these commercial areas. These customers must rely on private haulers to take their organic waste to the commercial composting facility. While residential homeowners are responsible for cleaning their own bins, the haulers are responsible for cleaning commercial bins.
Traditionally, haulers have relied on a handful of options to remove the icky black buildup that inevitably coats every green bin. Methods include pressure washing, automatic cleaners, bin swaps, or cleaning services.
The challenge is that each of these options comes with significant environmental impacts, time requirements, and costs. While they all resolve the messiness associated with composting, they don&#;t eliminate it altogether. As a result, commercial composters can still find their bins full of undesirable odors, insects, and pests.
Compostable liners&#;designed to snugly fit commercial composting bins&#;can resolve this challenge. First, they neatly contain all organic matter and eliminate associated messes. They also come with a lower environmental footprint, are less time-consuming, and less costly than alternative options.
Unfortunately, navigating the compostable bag market is a lot more difficult than it should be. You&#;ll need to find a bag that works for your needs. That bag must also easily decompose in your local commercial composting facility.
It can be helpful to pay attention to certification, strength, and reliability. We&#;ll explain more about what to look for below.
If you&#;re looking for a trustworthy compostable product, the BPI certification mark is essential. To obtain it, a product must go through rigorous, third-party lab tests. Testing ensures they&#;re capable of decomposing in a commercial composting facility. Look for BPI-certified compostable bags when you shop.
It can also help if a product is Compost Manufacturing Alliance (CMA) approved. The CMA conducts field tests on compostable products to ensure they can decompose in a real-life commercial composting setting.
When a CMA logo is placed on a product, it identifies the environments it&#;s approved for. It will also require the product to be tinted a specific color. Bags are usually green or brown. That way, composters can quickly identify whether a product is fit for their type of composting facility.
You want your compostable bags to be as strong and leak-proof as possible. That way, they won&#;t rip or leak when carrying heavy and/or wet loads. A bag&#;s strength ultimately comes down to its resin.
All compostable bag resins are a mixture of petroleum products and organic sources like corn starch. The petroleum products are necessary to increase a bag&#;s strength and water resistance. While some bags may boast a higher level of organic materials, this actually makes the bags less durable.
For a compostable liner to work as effectively as possible, it needs to snugly fit your composting bin. At EcoSafe, we offer compostable liners in a vast range of sizes&#;for many different types of composting bins. To help you find the best bag to fit your needs, we offer right-fitting tools. They allow you to conveniently input the dimensions of your bin to determine the likely best fitting bag for your needs.
Here are a few frequently asked questions about why compostable bags are better for the environment.
1. What are compostable bags made of?
Compostable bags are made from compostable resins, which are typically composed of compostable biopolymers, PBAT, and PLA.
2. Are compostable trash bags the same thing as compostable bags
Yes, &#;compost trash bags&#; are compostable bags that for trash bins
&#;Compostable trash bags&#; is just a different use for compostable bags. It&#;s not recommended to use a compostable bag to collect trash because a compostable bag is not able to break down and provide the same environmental benefit in a landfill. However, because of the matching form factor between a bag made for a compost bin and a bag made for a trash bin, the names are often used interchangeably.
3. What can I put in a compostable bag?
Compostable bags are suitable for collecting food scraps such as:
You can also place yard waste such as leaves, twigs, and grass clippings within the bag. You should always check what items your local composter accepts as they can sometimes vary. These bags are designed to disintegrate with the compostable material at the appropriate facility.
4. How do I use a compostable bag?
When using a compostable bag, it&#;s essential to avoid overpacking it. Place it in a compost bin, and add your food scraps and yard waste.
The bag will remain strong while it&#;s in use. When exposed to the heat and organisms present in an industrial composting facility, it will break down along with the compostable materials. It will leave behind nutrient-rich fertilizer for your plants.
5. How do I store a compostable bag?
Compostable bags should be stored in a dry, cool place away from sunlight. Exposure to heat and sunlight can cause the bags to break down prematurely. It&#;s also essential to use them within the expiration date of their purchase to ensure their effectiveness.
6. Are there any drawbacks to using compostable bags?
Compostable bags are not perfect, and they have their drawbacks. They require a composting environment to break down. That means they won&#;t decompose in a regular trash can, or in your home compost pile.
They may also be more expensive than your common plastic trash bag. Plastic bags cannot be used to collect compostable materials, however. Compostable bags are by far the easiest and cleanest way to collect organic waste.
Despite their host of environmental benefits, compostable bags aren&#;t right for everyone. To be a better environmental option, compostable bags need to find their way to a commercial composting facility. They can&#;t decompose in landfills. If they blow away, they run the risk of polluting lakes, rivers, and oceans like single-use products.
Unfortunately, many jurisdictions across North America still don&#;t have composting programs. Of those that do, some commercial facilities can&#;t effectively process compostable bags. It&#;s important to determine whether compostable bags are accepted in your region before purchasing.
To learn more about EcoSafe&#;s wide range of compostable products, find them here.
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