Well, I threw this piece of plastic that had earlier contained basil leaves onto our compost pile the other day. I was surprised to read that it was made of corn, and that it is compostable (official page is here: Nature's PLAstic). I will have to see how it does on our compost pile, since it is not one of the 4000 facilities mentioned on the website: "In just 45 days, NaturesPLAstic™ will return to nature at more than 4,000 commercial composting facilities nationwide." Glad for compostable plastic.
5 comments:
Post a picture in 45 days! :) OK, give them until next June so the compost can thaw back out and give a go at it. Even here in Juneautopia, compost is a "2 year" proposition, rather than the normal 1 year.. Cool, but it'll be interesting to see!
Here I am in 2011, just discovered a plastic container by NaturesPLAstic. How did your efforts with your compost pile go?
One plastic container is still there, pretty much in its original form, near the top of the pile. I should probably put it in the middle and see if it decomposes. I think I pulled the others out because it looked a bit too much like a garbage pile. So no decomposition yet, I think.
I've had a NatureWorksPLA salad container on a sunny dirt spot in my backyard, weighted down by a rock so it won't blow away, since at least last summer. OK. I know that's not a compost bin. (If it were in my compost bin, it would be more difficult to see progress.) But, I see no sign of decomposition, except that the container sort of wilted (not quite melted) flat, probably from the heat of the sun. It's disappointing. I guess those 4000 compost facilities the web page cites must have very special composting conditions.
-- Jerry
I just read a bit more on the Ingeo web site (http://www.natureworksllc.com/The-Ingeo-Journey/End-of-Life-Options.aspx), the manufaucture of the raw plastic resin used in NatureWorks products. They do note that the compostability is very temperature and humidity dependent. Also, these do not degrade in landfills (similar to most other things). Perhaps my expectation that my salad container might degrade at least a bit "in nature" in my backyard, not in true compost conditions, was mistaken. This company does seem to be "trying hard".
--Jerry
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