Earth-safe Packaging: Biodegradable vs Compostable plastics
Gather round, Yas Alpaca readers, we are here for another vocabulary lesson. This one has to do with packaging. As a savvy consumer, you're probably already paying attention to labels like "biodegradable" or "compostable." But, what’s the difference?
Fundamentally, both types of packaging share the same core value: they are made of materials that can break down over time. But the specifics of how they break down—where they break down and how much time is needed—have important implications. Because they’re the most difficult, we’ll focus on biodegradable and compostable plastics.
Earth-safe Packaging: Biodegradable vs Compostable plastics
Gather round, Yas Alpaca readers, we are here for another vocabulary lesson. This one has to do with packaging. As a savvy consumer, you're probably already paying attention to labels like "biodegradable" or "compostable." But, what’s the difference?
Fundamentally, both types of packaging share the same core value: they are made of materials that can break down over time. But the specifics of how they break down—where they break down and how much time is needed—have important implications. Because they’re the most difficult, we’ll focus on biodegradable and compostable plastics.
Biodegradable
For something to biodegrade, it has to break down into its natural elements: water, carbon dioxide and biomass. To accomplish this, the package of interest is assisted in decomposition by bacteria and/or funghi (not fun, guy) and by a suitable environment; suitable means at a temperature, moisture, and oxygen level suitable for the bacteria and/or funghi to do their jobs.
This suitable environment for biodegradable plastics, however, is not a landfill. In a landfill, a generally terrible environment for biodegradation, the process can be interrupted by chemicals from other waste and/or fail to reach the optimal temperature, which can make a package designed to break down in several months require an indefinite amount of time; if buried under a mountain of trash, the lack of oxygen can also mean that the gas released from degradation, however slow, is methane rather than carbon dioxide. Spoiler alert: Methane is bad (read more here).
These two points, environment and time, are what make biodegradable products so difficult. The environment necessary for biodegradation is often not defined for the consumer (or even available—there’s no biodegradable bin!) and the time necessary to break down a product is not regulated, meaning that it can take anywhere from many months to many, or too many, years (like 10,000) to breakdown. US regulations used to suggest that biodegradable packaging should break down in a “reasonable” amount of time, but reasonable was open to interpretation; this lack of transparency—and that biodegradable can mean basically nothing--isn’t reasonable to us.
Wait. This is super important. We want to emphasize that biodegradable products, particularly biodegradable plastics, can just sit in landfills…not biodegrading. Without disposing of biodegradable products properly, we are just adding to landfills and other parts of the environment with trash.
So, what’s to be done with biodegradable packaging? We say, if it’s biodegradable and recyclable, then recycle it! But, if it’s only biodegradable then it has to go in the residual waste bin. Ultimately, it will end up in the incinerator or in the landfill. We know how unsatisfying this is. Basically, we try to make good decisions—buying something biodegradable—without the systems in place to make those decisions count. For that reason, we suggest going for recyclable or compostable products.
Earth-safe Packaging: Biodegradable vs Compostable plastics
Gather round, Yas Alpaca readers, we are here for another vocabulary lesson. This one has to do with packaging. As a savvy consumer, you're probably already paying attention to labels like "biodegradable" or "compostable." But, what’s the difference?
Fundamentally, both types of packaging share the same core value: they are made of materials that can break down over time. But the specifics of how they break down—where they break down and how much time is needed—have important implications. Because they’re the most difficult, we’ll focus on biodegradable and compostable plastics.
Biodegradable
For something to biodegrade, it has to break down into its natural elements: water, carbon dioxide and biomass. To accomplish this, the package of interest is assisted in decomposition by bacteria and/or funghi (not fun, guy) and by a suitable environment; suitable means at a temperature, moisture, and oxygen level suitable for the bacteria and/or funghi to do their jobs.
This suitable environment for biodegradable plastics, however, is not a landfill. In a landfill, a generally terrible environment for biodegradation, the process can be interrupted by chemicals from other waste and/or fail to reach the optimal temperature, which can make a package designed to break down in several months require an indefinite amount of time; if buried under a mountain of trash, the lack of oxygen can also mean that the gas released from degradation, however slow, is methane rather than carbon dioxide. Spoiler alert: Methane is bad (read more here).
These two points, environment and time, are what make biodegradable products so difficult. The environment necessary for biodegradation is often not defined for the consumer (or even available—there’s no biodegradable bin!) and the time necessary to break down a product is not regulated, meaning that it can take anywhere from many months to many, or too many, years (like 10,000) to breakdown. US regulations used to suggest that biodegradable packaging should break down in a “reasonable” amount of time, but reasonable was open to interpretation; this lack of transparency—and that biodegradable can mean basically nothing--isn’t reasonable to us.
Compostable
We like to think of compostable products as the classic one-upper of biodegradable products. Compostable products break down into completely non-toxic components and must do so within a certain amount of time in commercial compost conditions. More specifically, 90% of the package or product must be completely broken down into carbon dioxide, water and minerals by biological processes within six months. Compostable products are certified in the EU; products with the certification can use the compostable label and have verifiable certification numbers.
Before you get too excited about compostable products, we’d like you to pay attention to the necessary environment: commercial or industrial composting conditions. Commercial composting is large-scale, highly controlled composting and not at all like the often small-stakes home composting. Commercial composts monitor, among other things, aeration, moisture content, temperature, pH, and the carbon/nitrogen ratio of the compost. Plus, the final compost is subject to quality control. In these types of facilities, compostable plastics will break down in under six months. But, in home composts, it is unlikely that a compostable fork, for example, will break down even in several years.
Unfortunately, industrial composts are not widely available. If industrial composts are available to you, fantastic! Compost away! If not, or if your local compost only accepts food and garden waste (like a home compost), then the fork or other compostable plastic will again end up in the landfill or incinerator.
Yas Alpaca's packaging
We’ve talked about why we are plastic-free (read more about what happens to plastic packaging here), but we haven’t taken the time to explore the packaging we do use. From start to finish, all of Yas Alpaca’s packaging is recyclable or compostable. The majority of it is paper or its cousin, cardboard; before biodegrading, these products can be easily reused and recycled…and reused and recycled (up to seven times!). (Please recycle all the paper products!)
To protect our shampoo bars as they make their way to you (and to meet production requirements and regulations), we wrap them in a clear cellulose film that we call biodegradable cellophane. While regular cellophane is made from plastic, our biodegradable cellophane is made from plants. Specifically, the clear film that surrounds our shampoo bars is made from wood pulp, sourced from responsibly managed forests, by a company called Futamura. If you’re thinking, eureka! You did it! Your packaging is dope. We think so, too.
So, we’ll take a second to brag a bit more. The cellulose that surrounds our shampoo bars is certified as compostable in any industrial or home compost by EN13432 and OK Home Compost, respectively. That means that in an industrial compost, the film will be completely broken down in under six months. In a well-managed home compost, which doesn't quite reach the temperatures of an industrial compost, the biodegradation process will likely take a bit longer. But, to meet the OK Home Compost standard, the film must break down in under one year. Therefore, you can confidently put the film in your home compost or in the compost bin provided by your local authority.
Biodegradable
For something to biodegrade, it has to break down into its natural elements: water, carbon dioxide and biomass. To accomplish this, the package of interest is assisted in decomposition by bacteria and/or funghi (not fun, guy) and by a suitable environment; suitable means at a temperature, moisture, and oxygen level suitable for the bacteria and/or funghi to do their jobs.
This suitable environment for biodegradable plastics, however, is not a landfill. In a landfill, a generally terrible environment for biodegradation, the process can be interrupted by chemicals from other waste and/or fail to reach the optimal temperature, which can make a package designed to break down in several months require an indefinite amount of time; if buried under a mountain of trash, the lack of oxygen can also mean that the gas released from degradation, however slow, is methane rather than carbon dioxide. Spoiler alert: Methane is bad (read more here).
These two points, environment and time, are what make biodegradable products so difficult. The environment necessary for biodegradation is often not defined for the consumer (or even available—there’s no biodegradable bin!) and the time necessary to break down a product is not regulated, meaning that it can take anywhere from many months to many, or too many, years (like 10,000) to breakdown. US regulations used to suggest that biodegradable packaging should break down in a “reasonable” amount of time, but reasonable was open to interpretation; this lack of transparency—and that biodegradable can mean basically nothing--isn’t reasonable to us.
Wait. This is super important. We want to emphasize that biodegradable products, particularly biodegradable plastics, can just sit in landfills…not biodegrading. Without disposing of biodegradable products properly, we are just adding to landfills and other parts of the environment with trash.
So, what’s to be done with biodegradable packaging? We say, if it’s biodegradable and recyclable, then recycle it! But, if it’s only biodegradable then it has to go in the residual waste bin. Ultimately, it will end up in the incinerator or in the landfill. We know how unsatisfying this is. Basically, we try to make good decisions—buying something biodegradable—without the systems in place to make those decisions count. For that reason, we suggest going for recyclable or compostable products.
Compostable
We like to think of compostable products as the classic one-upper of biodegradable products. Compostable products break down into completely non-toxic components and must do so within a certain amount of time in commercial compost conditions. More specifically, 90% of the package or product must be completely broken down into carbon dioxide, water and minerals by biological processes within six months. Compostable products are certified in the EU; products with the certification can use the compostable label and have verifiable certification numbers.
Before you get too excited about compostable products, we’d like you to pay attention to the necessary environment: commercial or industrial composting conditions. Commercial composting is large-scale, highly controlled composting and not at all like the often small-stakes home composting. Commercial composts monitor, among other things, aeration, moisture content, temperature, pH, and the carbon/nitrogen ratio of the compost. Plus, the final compost is subject to quality control. In these types of facilities, compostable plastics will break down in under six months. But, in home composts, it is unlikely that a compostable fork, for example, will break down even in several years.
Unfortunately, industrial composts are not widely available. If industrial composts are available to you, fantastic! Compost away! If not, or if your local compost only accepts food and garden waste (like a home compost), then the fork or other compostable plastic will again end up in the landfill or incinerator.
Yas Alpaca's packaging
We’ve talked about why we are plastic-free (read more about what happens to plastic packaging here), but we haven’t taken the time to explore the packaging we do use. From start to finish, all of Yas Alpaca’s packaging is recyclable or compostable. The majority of it is paper or its cousin, cardboard; before biodegrading, these products can be easily reused and recycled…and reused and recycled (up to seven times!). (Please recycle all the paper products!)
To protect our shampoo bars as they make their way to you (and to meet production requirements and regulations), we wrap them in a clear cellulose film that we call biodegradable cellophane. While regular cellophane is made from plastic, our biodegradable cellophane is made from plants. Specifically, the clear film that surrounds our shampoo bars is made from wood pulp, sourced from responsibly managed forests, by a company called Futamura. If you’re thinking, eureka! You did it! Your packaging is dope. We think so, too.
So, we’ll take a second to brag a bit more. The cellulose that surrounds our shampoo bars is certified as compostable in any industrial or home compost by EN13432 and OK Home Compost, respectively. That means that in an industrial compost, the film will be completely broken down in under six months. In a well-managed home compost, which doesn't quite reach the temperatures of an industrial compost, the biodegradation process will likely take a bit longer. But, to meet the OK Home Compost standard, the film must break down in under one year. Therefore, you can confidently put the film in your home compost or in the compost bin provided by your local authority.
Better Waste Management
Whew. We know this is another hard blow! Biodegradable and compostable products can just be trash without the systems in place to dispose of them properly. That’s why it was important to us that we use packaging that can break down in any available compost, but that doesn’t solve the larger problem. As consumers and producers, we need to demand industrial composting be widely available and that all biodegradable products have defined environments and timelines for biodegradation. We know that you care about the environment from the choices you're making (and the blogs you’re reading), so alert your local government on the need for better waste management.
What is the difference between biodegradable and compostable products? Fundamentally, both types of packaging share the same core value: they are made of materials that can break down over time. But the specifics of how they break down—where they break down and how much time is needed—have important implications. Because they’re the most difficult, we’ll focus on biodegradable and compostable plastics.
Better Waste Management
Whew. We know this is another hard blow! Biodegradable and compostable products can just be trash without the systems in place to dispose of them properly. That’s why it was important to us that we use packaging that can break down in any available compost, but that doesn’t solve the larger problem. As consumers and producers, we need to demand industrial composting be widely available and that all biodegradable products have defined environments and timelines for biodegradation. We know that you care about the environment from the choices you're making (and the blogs you’re reading), so alert your local government on the need for better waste management.
What is the difference between biodegradable and compostable products? Fundamentally, both types of packaging share the same core value: they are made of materials that can break down over time. But the specifics of how they break down—where they break down and how much time is needed—have important implications. Because they’re the most difficult, we’ll focus on biodegradable and compostable plastics.
Wait. This is super important. We want to emphasize that biodegradable products, particularly biodegradable plastics, can just sit in landfills…not biodegrading. Without disposing of biodegradable products properly, we are just adding to landfills and other parts of the environment with trash.
So, what’s to be done with biodegradable packaging? We say, if it’s biodegradable and recyclable, then recycle it! But, if it’s only biodegradable then it has to go in the residual waste bin. Ultimately, it will end up in the incinerator or in the landfill. We know how unsatisfying this is. Basically, we try to make good decisions—buying something biodegradable—without the systems in place to make those decisions count. For that reason, we suggest going for recyclable or compostable products.
Compostable
We like to think of compostable products as the classic one-upper of biodegradable products. Compostable products break down into completely non-toxic components and must do so within a certain amount of time in commercial compost conditions. More specifically, 90% of the package or product must be completely broken down into carbon dioxide, water and minerals by biological processes within six months. Compostable products are certified in the EU; products with the certification can use the compostable label and have verifiable certification numbers.
Before you get too excited about compostable products, we’d like you to pay attention to the necessary environment: commercial or industrial composting conditions. Commercial composting is large-scale, highly controlled composting and not at all like the often small-stakes home composting. Commercial composts monitor, among other things, aeration, moisture content, temperature, pH, and the carbon/nitrogen ratio of the compost. Plus, the final compost is subject to quality control. In these types of facilities, compostable plastics will break down in under six months. But, in home composts, it is unlikely that a compostable fork, for example, will break down even in several years.
Unfortunately, industrial composts are not widely available. If industrial composts are available to you, fantastic! Compost away! If not, or if your local compost only accepts food and garden waste (like a home compost), then the fork or other compostable plastic will again end up in the landfill or incinerator.
Yas Alpaca's packaging
We’ve talked about why we are plastic-free (read more about what happens to plastic packaging here), but we haven’t taken the time to explore the packaging we do use. From start to finish, all of Yas Alpaca’s packaging is recyclable or compostable. The majority of it is paper or its cousin, cardboard; before biodegrading, these products can be easily reused and recycled…and reused and recycled (up to seven times!). (Please recycle all the paper products!)
To protect our shampoo bars as they make their way to you (and to meet production requirements and regulations), we wrap them in a clear cellulose film that we call biodegradable cellophane. While regular cellophane is made from plastic, our biodegradable cellophane is made from plants. Specifically, the clear film that surrounds our shampoo bars is made from wood pulp, sourced from responsibly managed forests, by a company called Futamura. If you’re thinking, eureka! You did it! Your packaging is dope. We think so, too.
So, we’ll take a second to brag a bit more. The cellulose that surrounds our shampoo bars is certified as compostable in any industrial or home compost by EN13432 and OK Home Compost, respectively. That means that in an industrial compost, the film will be completely broken down in under six months. In a well-managed home compost, which doesn't quite reach the temperatures of an industrial compost, the biodegradation process will likely take a bit longer. But, to meet the OK Home Compost standard, the film must break down in under one year. Therefore, you can confidently put the film in your home compost or in the compost bin provided by your local authority.
Better Waste Management
Whew. We know this is another hard blow! Biodegradable and compostable products can just be trash without the systems in place to dispose of them properly. That’s why it was important to us that we use packaging that can break down in any available compost, but that doesn’t solve the larger problem. As consumers and producers, we need to demand industrial composting be widely available and that all biodegradable products have defined environments and timelines for biodegradation. We know that you care about the environment from the choices you're making (and the blogs you’re reading), so alert your local government on the need for better waste management.
What is the difference between biodegradable and compostable products? Fundamentally, both types of packaging share the same core value: they are made of materials that can break down over time. But the specifics of how they break down—where they break down and how much time is needed—have important implications. Because they’re the most difficult, we’ll focus on biodegradable and compostable plastics.