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Where are we with compostable plastics? For retail packaging of products that move fairly quickly, it seems like a reasonable solution.
by blisterpeanuts 7y ago
Where are we with compostable plastics? For retail packaging of products that move fairly quickly, it seems like a reasonable solution.
- nkurz 7y agoI posted this article earlier today, which summarizes some of the positives and negatives of compostable plastics: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20547252 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20547252
- schoen 7y agoThis article seems to break it down very well (no pun intended).
- justin66 7y agoI recently dug a black plastic flip-close food container that was marked "compostable" out of my parents compost pile, after burying it there almost exactly four years ago. It looked exactly the same as when I put it in there. Interesting experiment but that's what I was already expecting, based on the very small amount I'd read suggesting that one needs to put plastics marked "compostable" into some kind of weird high-temperature bioreactor in order to get them to break down. nkurz's article seems to delve deeper into this topic.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- lh7777 7y agoWe have municipal composting here in Seattle, which can handle everything from food scraps to yard waste to bioplastics. The city incentivizes recycling and composting by charging a lot for trash collection, less for compost, and nothing for recycling. I’ve known for some time that much of my recycling is really going into a landfill, but there’s still value to separating for me because I can use a very small (low rate) trash can as there’s hardly anything left that goes in the trash. I wonder if composting is really a net benefit, though.
- tonyedgecombe 7y agoOur local council accepts food waste, turns it into compost which we can collect for free. It can be done and the benefits appear obvious to me.
- justin66 7y agoAny pile of dirt can handle bioplastics, but I wonder what actually becomes of them.