Confused by Compostability. Bamboozled by Biodegradability.

Introduction:

While misconceptions are not uncommon in waste disposal, it cannot be argued that one of the biggest sources of confusion comes from materials labelled compostable and/or biodegradable. Due to clever marketing, a lot of people believe that biodegradable and compostable materials breakdown naturally regardless of how they are disposed. This is not always the case. Often, these materials need specific circumstances to breakdown completely. In this blog we hope to explain what these materials are, how they work, what happens when they are disposed of via traditional waste streams and finally how these materials can be disposed of properly.

What are Biodegradable and Compostable materials:

Biodegradable Materials:

On a long enough timeline, many materials are biodegradable. So, what do manufacturers mean when they say that a product is biodegradable. A lot of materials that claim to be biodegradable are made from natural raw materials such as wood and bamboo. Because these materials exist naturally, we believe that they will break down completely unaided. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Biodegradable plastic bags have been found in natural environments three years after they have been disposed off without showing any signs of degradation.

Adding to this issue, when biodegradable plastics do begin to degrade, they create what’s known as “micro plastics”. These micro plastics get into the food chains of organisms and when swallowed, these microplastics can trick organisms into thinking that they don’t need to eat, eventually leading to starvation.

As mentioned, biodegradable materials often need specific circumstances to degrade as intended. They require a lot of heat and a lot of oxygen. These circumstances can’t be replicated in composting bins or in commercial landfills often leading to biodegradable materials breaking down the same way any other product would. For these products to degrade as intended they would need to be sent to an industrial composting facility.

Compostable Materials:

Compostable materials are slightly different to biodegradable materials. However, there is still misinformation around the topic. Essentially there are two types of compostable materials. Home compostable materials, these can be identified by a seedling logo on the packaging. This shows that in theory this product should break down over time in a standard household compost bin.

Home composting is a great way to reduce the amount of waste your household produces, in doing so you’re rewarded with compost that can be used to enhance your garden. 

The second type of compostable material are those that are industrially composable. Like biodegradable products, industrially compostable products are only able to break down under specific circumstances, high heat, and humidity. This means that they require a segregated collection and cannot be put into standard waste streams.

What happens when these are disposed of in normal waste streams:

As you might be able to imagine, a lot of the time people aren’t sure what to do with Biodegradable & Compostable materials and so they are placed into standard waste streams. It is also a common misconception that because these materials are sold to consumers as a more sustainable choice, they must be recyclable. This is not the case.

When disposing of Biodegradable and Compostable products via standard waste streams they should always be placed into the General Waste. From there, with Enva, these materials can go through the energy recovery process as opposed to going to landfill.

Finally, another misconception around these materials is that they can be disposed of via the food waste bin. If these materials did degrade as advertised this would make sense. However, the actual result of these materials being placed in the Food Waste stream is that they become extremely contaminated. So much so that they then become ineligible for energy recovery process and instead must be put in landfill.