Compostable

Compostable is used to describe products that can be disintegrated into non-toxic natural elements. It also does so at a consistent rate with similar organic materials. Compostable products require microorganisms, moisture, and heat to produce the final compost product.

Compostability

Compostability is a word that is particularly susceptible to greenwashing. There is a significant difference between “compostable” and “biodegradable”. Marketing terms such as “bioplastics” and “environmentally friendly” are used to distort already ambiguous definitions. It must be mentioned that there is a distinct difference between home compost and industrial compost.

What Does It Mean for Packaging to Be Compostable?

When the product is compostable, it means that it can break down and release valuable nutrients into the soil so that new plants can grow. However, to achieve this, these compostable products must be in the right environment and in the right conditions. There are two main environments in which compostable materials can decompose: in household compost bins or in industrial facilities.

Made from plant-based or fossil fuel materials, compostable materials for packaging has the benefit that its end-of-life disposal is harmless to the environment. Once it is completely decomposed, it can provide nutrients to the soil. However, regardless of its benefits, all compostable packaging materials must be tested for decomposition, biodegradation, and non-toxic effects and disposed of properly.

To be labelled as “compostable”, packaging must meet the following standards:

1. Biodegradability – 90% of the packaging must break down into carbon dioxide, water and minerals within six months
2. Disintegration – 90% of packaging material must degrade into pieces smaller than two millimetres within 12 weeks
3. The packaging material should not have any negative effects on the composting process
4. The packaging material should not have a high heavy metal concentration

Environmental Benefits of Compostable Packaging

• Reduce the amount of carbon business uses
• Divert more of your waste away from environmentally damaging landfill
• Make a positive contribution towards reducing levels of pollution in the soil, air, and groundwater
• Help to conserve resources by reducing the amount of new/virgin materials required to make packaging products

Bio-based compostable packaging materials can make sense for you if you can fully educate your customer base on home composting protocols or provide services that collect items and send them to industrial composting facilities.

Compost Types

The process of biodegradation under aerobic conditions within a time frame of 6-12 weeks is called composting.

In a suitable environment, compostable products decompose plastic polymers, into CO2 and all other components in biomass or soil. This “suitable environment” consists of an ambient temperature between 50-70°C, the right humidity, the right pressure and a suitable number and type of microbes.

A consumer can compost in two ways:

• In a home compost: A sealed container that creates the environment mentioned above. Often using food residues, plant material and worms.
• In an industrial compost: An industrial plant that is often operated by the city or local government and receives and processes industrially approved material for composting on a large scale. Industrial plants create hotter environments with higher pressure than home compost at home.

The final product is soil or biomass, which feeds organic, natural and non-toxic nutrients to the soil.

The beginnings of compostable packaging

At first glance, people would think that switching from traditional plastic packaging to compostable packaging is not a great undertaking. But the question is, why don’t all companies use compostable boxes, bags or films to package and sell their products? 

Finding compostable packaging that really helps protect our planet and is also very suitable 

for food is not an easy game. Why this organic packaging is difficult to find, and why some materials sold at the same price cause more damage than ordinary plastics, we explain it here.

Appearances are deceptive

Unfortunately, there are many packages that appear to be environmentally friendly at first glance. But the appearance is deceptive because they almost always have a second layer of plastic on their packaging. This means that all the packaging cannot be treated with organic waste and the effort is wasted. 

For our packaging, we use paper (made from agricultural waste) for the outer layer and biodegradable bioplastics for the inner layer. 

Both substances are produced from renewable raw materials and are completely biodegradable.

Compostable label

However, the packaging itself is not everything. The next hurdle in trying to develop 100% compostable packaging is labelling. It is made of glossy paper and is usually printed with highly toxic ink. Subsequently, the label must still adhere to the paper package, and for this reason, toxic adhesives are usually used. Therefore, not only must pay attention to the obvious outer packaging but also the label must comply with environmentally friendly criteria in order to make the packaging fully compostable. 

Why the effort?

So why the whole thing? After all, it is almost certain that the production cost of this eco-friendly packaging is much more expensive than ordinary packaging made of pure plastic. However, now that we are not alone on this planet, we must begin to protect our limited resources and use them wisely. Each of us can do something beneficial for the environment and contribute to the prevention of waste. Show commitment and shop consciously.

Why should you use compostable products?

Brands can choose compostable materials as a substitute for petroleum-based plastics. Although petroleum-based plastics are “biodegradable”, it takes 1,000 years to decompose. Compostable products will dissolve in CO2 and valuable nutrients in 6-12 weeks under the right industrial conditions.

Why you should opt-out of compostable products

A brand that has a deep understanding of customers may decide not to use compostable packaging materials because it knows that its customers cannot use proper composting facilities. 

Not all municipalities provide composting facilities for residents, and backyard composting is time-consuming, expensive and resource-intensive. Also, even with certified materials, backyard composting may not create a suitable environment for composting. 

Many compostable products look and feel like traditional products made from petroleum-based plastics. Therefore, many users prefer to throw these compostable resources into traditional recycling. However, this puts great pressure on recycling facilities. 

Here are the important facts about Compostable:

Biodegradable under certain conditions and in a fixed period of time.

• Compostable in industrial composting plant: decomposed at about 60 °C in a maximum of twelve weeks.
• Compostable on the garden compost: Materials must decompose at about 30 °C within a year.

There are various types of benefits you can get by using compostable materials and packaging. These benefits are categorised as: Social, Financial and Environmental benefits.

Social Benefits

Manufacturers today can not afford to ignore sustainable packaging, as the customers are looking for sustainable packaging options. The environment matters to today’s consumers, especially if you are trying to appeal to millennials and Generation Z, especially concerned with the environment.

When a business decides to use compostable packaging, it demonstrates a social commitment to improve the negative effects of packaging while positioning yourself as a champion of sustainability.

Financial Benefits

When customers interact with a brand and believe in its mission and purpose, they are more likely to become loyal customers. This kind of loyalty is very important to any business. When you use compostable packaging, your customers will believe that you are not just another callous corporate entity. You are playing an active role when it comes to the environment and showing interest in the things that really matter.

Environmental Benefits

We have already covered the environmental benefits of compostable packaging, but to summarise:

• Compostable packaging uses less carbon than other packaging
• Compostable packaging helps businesses to make a positive contribution to reducing levels of pollution
• Compostable packaging doesn’t clog up landfills
• Compostable packaging helps to reduce the number of virgin materials used to make packaging.

The companies who choose to turn to sustainable packaging options are staying ahead of the curve. As time goes by, customers will expect environmentally-friendly packaging as standard, and businesses who make this decision now set themselves in good stead for the years to come.

Read our blog on Difference between Compostable and Bio