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"Compostable" plastics are a polymer made of lactic acid units chained together called PLA. It is absolutely compostable, but needs specific conditions. In na
by colechristensen 4y ago
"Compostable" plastics are a polymer made of lactic acid units chained together called PLA. It is absolutely compostable, but needs specific conditions. In nature it breaks down very much faster than other plastics and in pure form at least, though it still lasts a while. Because it's lactic acid and animals are already full of lactic acid, the concerns about polluting the environment with it are much lower.
It sounds like the recycler they're using only has the correct facilities to process some but not all of these PLA plastics and are having contamination problems with people putting non-compostable things in along with the compostable ones.
They're also refusing used coffee filters so it seems the problem isn't plastic industry scams but poor compliance with people putting the wrong things in the compost bin.
I've known several well intentioned but slightly clueless people who put just about anything in the recycling or compost not realizing that they were just contaminating the stream and making things much worse. It's almost the opposite where recycling/composting proponents are giving and getting wrong impressions about how much really needs to be put in the landfill.
- hinkley 4y agoShouldn’t used coffee filters go in yard waste though? What’s the vector for rejection you’re thinking of? I live with people who keep putting soiled cardboard in recycling. Only last year did I win the war on pizza boxes.
- colechristensen 4y agoThe Boulder composter is rejecting coffee grounds for compost for whatever reason. That seems pretty strange to me I have no idea why they would. In general coffee grounds should be compost. Maybe people were trying to compost whole coffee kureg pods or something?
- hinkley 4y agoI use paper filters, and unbleached if I can get them. I’m not convinced that all of the tea bags we get are plastic free. In fact some fancy tea we tried definitely was in a plastic bag. I got us interested in other teas ASAP. I wonder if there are coffee filters loaded with plastic out there. Coffee is wonderful on its own for composting. It’s very nearly the correct C:N ratio just by itself.
- dpkirchner 4y agoA lot of Keurig pods claim to be compostable, with the caveat that it depends on your local services. I'm sure many folks don't bother looking up what composting services are available.
- hinkley 4y agoI have a mental block that keeps me from thinking of Keurig but I suspect you're entirely correct.