Bioplastics

Unfortunately not. Most household food waste is composted at anaerobic digester plants, which work without heat or oxygen and can’t break down solid packaging like your compostable food bag. This means any packaging gets pulled out for waste-to-energy incineration.

Even if your food waste caddy goes to one of the 27 plants in the UK that accept compostable plastics that accept compostable plastics, they wouldn’t know it isn’t an oil-based plastic (there isn’t a person vetting every non-food item), so it would get removed.

The company Vegware is working on a couple of schemes to get ‘their’ compostable plastics to a composting facility that will accept them. The Composting Collective supports large institutions and cafés to get their packaging to a local in-vessel composter, at a cost. For individuals they have a post-back scheme, so people pop their materials in a box and return at a cost to the individual of £20.  

But these two schemes are only for Vegware products as these are the ones that the composting facilities have approved, as many others don’t breakdown as well as they claim to.

No, they are designed for composting, not recycling. PLA has a number 7 on the bottom which may lead you to believe it is recyclable – but it isn’t. Don’t be misled! The number 7 is for ‘other materials’ which are not recyclable, so they shouldn’t go in the recycling bin.

At present, plastic recycling facilities haven’t started using the technology enabling them to differentiate between PLA and PET plastic, as currently there are not high enough volumes of compostables to justify investing in it. 

There are concerns that bioplastics will reduce the quality of oil-based plastic recycling, as the polymers and materials are different. However, it has been suggested by some studies that the volumes of compostable materials getting into the recycling waste stream are still low.

German and Italian studies have suggested that recycled content would not be affected by up to 3% PLA in Polypropylene (PP), and 1-2% in recycled PET.

Unfortunately, the conditions aren’t hot enough. Plus no waste decomposes in a landfill, because of the combinations of materials compacted on top of each other. So even compostable plastics will remain as they are in landfill, like the rest of the waste. 

Many people have asked whether compostable plastics give off methane in a landfill like other organic materials. The answer is no because they need to reach 60 degrees before they start decomposing, so they just remain inert.

The EU is planning to ban problematic bioplastics, like oxydegradable ones, and the EU single-use plastics directive which is calling for a sustained reduction in single-use materials includes bio-based and bioegradable plastics With Brexit, it is not clear if the UK will adopt this or how the Waste and Resources Strategy will legislate against bioplastics. The strategy has taxes planned for packaging that is difficult to recycle and doesn’t contain 30% recycled content, although there is also the mandate that by 2025 all plastic packaging should be reusable, recyclable or compostable.

 Currently there is no legislation on packaging labelling, so companies can write what they like. This is going to change, and OPRL is moving to a clear Recycle or Don’t Recycle labelling. The UK government hosted a consultation on bio and compostable plastics at the end of 2019, and the results have still not been published.

Ideally not! Most takeaway cups sold as eco-friendly or biodegradable are actually lined with a waterproof layer of CPLA (temperature-resistant biodegradable plastic) which only breaks down under industrial composting conditions. The bioplastic element also means the cups can’t go in with kerbside cardboard and paper recycling schemes or any coffee cup only recycling systems (the bioplastics liner doesn’t work in the recycling system. They need to be put in a general waste bin – or you can ask the café if they are organising a takeback scheme. We have a handy guide all about reusables and disposables which you can share with them to support them in navigating on the go packaging.

Unfortunately, it has to go in the general waste bin, unless it is from Vegware who have a couple of schemes for cafes and individuals.

It’s not like ordinary plastic, either, so it shouldn’t go in your recycling box as it will contaminate the whole load. A handful of sites will accept compostables along with regular food waste but only in bulk – from places like festivals or university research sites – and don’t do kerbside collections. If in doubt, any plastic marked as eco, compostable or biodegradable should go in with general waste.

 It depends on the type:

• Oxydegradable bags are just oil-based plastic bags that disintegrate into microplastics when they come into contact with air and sunlight and are therefore harmful to the environment. These are being banned by the EU
• Compostable bags for food caddies might sound good, but the digester plants can’t break them down, so they’re pulled out and incinerated.

It’s cheaper and easier to line your food bin with leftover newspaper.

Yes, that’s true. They do generally have a lower carbon footprint, although they have other environmental impacts that plastics don’t have from the crop production. There are concerns that increased demand in the market will lead to crops being grown for bioplastics, as has happened with biofuels. However, according to most of the producers of compostable plastics, corn starch and sugar cane ethanol is extracted as a by-product of the crop production, so the crop is being harvested for multiple purposes, e.g. corn for animal fodder and sugar cane for sugar.

One of the issues with these materials is that they can’t be certified organic or GMO free because of the crops they’re derived from. Another issue is that if they become litter, they could still harm animals as they won’t degrade if they become litter.

2019 is going to be an exciting year for people adopting reuse. Let your customers know that you’re accepting reusable coffee cups and lunchboxes, and encourage them to bring their own. You can also highlight your venue’s involvement by joining the #longlivethelunchbox campaign launched by the Global Action Network.

If you want to use compostable packaging, look into the Vegware composting collective scheme to see whether you can send food waste and packaging to a local in-vessel composter.  If you have space, you could also look into setting up your own rocket composter!

Home compostable and industrially compostable packaging will remain intact if it becomes litter in the street or on a beach. It will also stay intact if it ends up in rivers or the sea, because it needs to be in a composting environment that gets hot in order to decompose.

New bioplastics are being created all the time. For instance, in Brazil they have developed a green-HDPE that mimics the plastic HDPE polymer (used for making milk bottles and hard plastic drink bottles) and can be recycled in the same way as plastics.

There are also salad bags made from thistle-starches which are GMO free and suitable for home composting. However, if these go in the food caddy it is most likely that they will get pulled out at the depackaging stage of a composting facility unless they degrade quickly on contact with water.

In Indonesia, bioplastics are being created from seaweed, to tackle the issues of small sachet litter. The sachets can be used with their contents e.g. drink sachets can be put in hot water along with their contents. If used for washing powder, they will degrade in the washing water.

All single-use items contribute to a production cycle of continuous manufacture, transportation and waste disposal. They require energy, water and chemicals, creating greenhouses gases and industrial waste. This is true of both compostable and ordinary plastic. Plastic that can be reused – of whatever sort – only contributes to this cycle once in its lifetime. We strongly believe in reusing products rather than buying new ones.

A Life Cycle Assessment comparison study of compostable bagasse (sugarcane fibre rather than PLA) burger boxes with reusable containers was carried out at the University of California. They found that a reusable polypropylene (plastic) container would need to be used more than 15 times to have lower greenhouse gas emissions, energy and waste impacts than a compostable one. 

Festival organisers need to work with their waste contractors to find out what composting facilities are available in their area and see they will accept. If there is an in-vessel composter, all traders need strict guidelines on what compostable packaging can be accepted. The food waste bin will need to be clearly labelled and audiences should be given full details of how to dispose of rubbish and recycling. But festivals shouldn’t shy away from going reusable either. Shout out to Shambala Festival which has been leading the way with phasing out single-use water bottles and coffee cups.