sunchips bag | Crazy About Compost

Just How Important Are Biodegradable Plastics?

It seems like over the last year or two, all the major companies have been jumping on board not only with a "green" product line, but with biodegradable plastics. I'd like to focus on the three major food service items that have been getting makeovers: cups, utensils and trash bags. To narrow it further, forget about items listed simply as "degradable"... what isn't? This is deceptive. "Biodegradable plastics" or "compostable plastics" that will completely compost in a commercial compost facility are what to look for. PLA (polylactic acid) is one of the most common corn based plastics used. Are they worth it? I'm not so sure. Assuming they're non-toxic and biodegrading as described, most people will not be able to compost these items in their backyard piles. This instantly reminds…

A Better SunChips Bag? (article)

Consumer Reports Magazine: January 2012 Frito-Lay scrapped its SunChips Original bag last year (too noisy) but says that the newer bag, like the old, is “100% compostable.” We decided that a retest was in order. On the bag’s back are the words “designed to compost in about 14 weeks in a hot, active home or industrial compost pile.” In tiny type on the bag’s base: “This package is suitable for industrial composting.” Most people don’t have access to an industrial compost pile, so we put a SunChips bag in a typical home pile of grass clippings, wood chips, leaves, and starter dirt, and kept it there for 14 weeks, adding compost and watering as needed. We also measured noise while crinkling the newer bag, the older bag, and a Tostitos bag.…