bioplastics | Crazy About Compost

Skeletons in my Compost!

I stopped adding to my "cured" compost bin just over a year ago- it's had plenty of time to cure, cool down and break down. It's strange how compost piles age- all the non-compost stuff seems to bubble up to the surface, like tires rise to the surface in a landfill. Can you guess what this glob of green stuff is in my hand? It's the remains of a compostable garbage bag. Where's the rest of it? Has it degraded safely and completely? What's up with the stuff in my hand? What other stuff is in here? I really don't remember what I put in my compost pile... I'm making that pledge right now that when I empty this one and start it all over soon, I'm keeping a clipboard…

Funky Compost Toter

I was out for a stroll recently and I scoped out this roughed up compost toter. Looks like it gets a lot of use. Of course, I had to open it up and take a look inside. Yum! It looks like they don't use any sort of liner... I don't blame them, they're expensive! However, having a raw container like this gets pretty nasty. I could smell it pretty well before I opened the lid, that's for sure. The wonderful aromas of an unlined compost toter can't do anything but hurt the "movement". Then again, I guess it's not so much different than a can full of garbage (garbage being defined as "wet" waste, which includes food). On the underside of the lid, there were plenty of friends hanging out:…

The Myth of Biodegradability (article)

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/the-myth-of-biodegradability/?ref=compost&_r=0 Over the past quarter century the idea of green business has expanded from a fringe group of hippie capitalists trying to increase environmental consciousness to mainstream corporations trying to establish a global standard for sustainable business. Today, most major companies have social responsibility departments, and moving to greener practices is a priority. Frankly, it’s one of the reasons my business, TerraCycle, is flourishing. This new landscape is encouraging but full of challenges and pitfalls. A great example is the almost blind embrace of all things “biodegradable.” I used quotation marks around the term because there is disagreement as to what it means. And the debate about whether businesses should embrace biodegradable plastic — P.L.A., or polylactic acid — for use, say, as packaging or in utensils, is an important…