Getting Pickier with Plastics

[ reposted from tylertalkstrash.com ] After reading a fair bit of material regarding microplastics in compost, I've decided to become more strict on what I contribute to my compost piles. Up to this point, I've been experimenting with how much of an item will compost, even when I'm aware it contains some plastic. For example, I've added quite a few ice cream cartons, chinese food containers, paper cups, and fast food waste that I dumpstered from several establishments. The plan has been to pick out the plastic skeletons that remain when I screen my finished product...I've been doing that for a long time, with the most common example being the occasional produce sticker that I missed. What's the big deal anyway?  I'm not going to use my compost to grow…

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Is Plastic in Compost Bad ? Should I Use it?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXLQLPsQmdU My question for Sonoma Compost first of all, is why they don't accept meat and dairy (or cardboard???).  They must have specific recipes. This seems kind of crazy as there's absolutely nothing wrong with composting this stuff, and they have plenty of massive windrows that must be generating hefty thermophilic temperatures. I'm not surprised they don't accept compostable plastics. It's such a drag that they haven't been a great solution so far, but they just haven't. Reportedly there have been a few companies selling their "compostable" plastic bags to use that ended up not being compostable at all... what a mess. Anyway, John makes a lot of good points in this video. Minimize your plastic consumption. The easiest way to sum up what he's saying: Aim to create compost…

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