General – Page 162 – Crazy About Compost

Waxed Paper: Is It Compostable?

Sometimes I read really deep into really specific things. Although I don't use wax paper at all, somehow I ended up spending a week or two emailing companies that manufacture it to ask what theirs is made of. Soybean wax or paraffin? Is the paraffin derived from vegetable oil or petroleum? Every company I heard from used paraffin derived from petroleum, not vegetable oil. Of the 7 companies I received a reply from, 5 used paraffin from petroleum and the other 2 used soybean wax (The companies that haven't answered at all are Norpak and Marcal). Of the replies I received, If You Care had a thorough explanation as to why they use soybean wax instead of petroleum. More appealing than that was that their product is chlorine and bleach…

White Castle composts food, paper waste (article)

article originally found here: http://www.wasterecyclingnews.com/article/20130312/NEWS03/130319989?CSReferrer=comments Fast food chain White Castle has launched a pilot composting program at six of its Ohio restaurants. Discarded food and paper from the six locations near Columbus, Ohio, have been composted by an Ohio company since December, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The resulting product is used in landscaping on White Castle property and is available for the public to purchase. If the six-month trial is successful, White Castle will consider rolling out the program to additional restaurants, the article indicates. "[It] took a little bit of getting used to at first, getting everything in the right bucket, but now it's really smooth and it's not much extra work for the staff," Chris Shaffery, regional director, told the news agency. "We compost hamburger boxes, towels, coffee…

Can you compost waxed paper?

I've been spending a lot of time reading about waxed paper lately, and trying to decide how I feel about composting it. While I rare use the stuff, a lot of people do and it's worth looking into. I'm currently working on a survey (note: all done! click here) of all the manufacturers of the stuff, trying to categorize it the best I can for those of you working with it. The main point of contention seems to be whether or not the wax is made from paraffin or soybean wax. What I've discovered is that soybean wax is rare in comparison to the number of companies using paraffin, and maybe you've read that vegetable oil is a source for paraffin. Through further investigation, all the companies I've surveyed utilize…