And your driving, and your diet…
Compostable bags, cups and cutlery are designed to be even more environmentally friendly than their standard biodegradable counterparts. Like biodegradables, they are capable of breaking down into the soil, but compostables have the added benefit of releasing valuable nutrients into the soil when they decompose. Such nutrients can aid the growth of plants and other wildlife, making compostables the plastics of choice for environmental advocates.
Compostable use in the U.S. is rising dramatically, with the number of certified products climbing 80 percent in less than four years.
However, to properly break down, compostable products typically need to undergo high temperatures and moisture. Such conditions require placement in special industrial facilities. While a growing number of programs offer compostable disposal sites, a lack of proper labeling and public unawareness is resulting in many people simply throwing away their compostables in the trash, where they end up in landfills and fail to decompose.
Compostables, meaning plant based. Meaning more land diverted from growing food. Meaning more hunger for the poorest of the world’s poor.
Nice guys, these greens.
A few years ago, Lays put some chips in crinkly compostable bags..horrid things. Claimed they decomposed in a few weeks. Anyway, we put them on our properly managed compost bin for one year…and they came out 100% intact! What a joke.