Compostable Confusion! What is compostable packaging and is it really ‘all that’?

Nowadays, a single stalk of broccoli wrapped in plastic handed to you in a single-use plastic bag – is enough to make any environmentally-conscious person gnash their teeth.

As manufacturers and brands react to the ever present backlash against plastic increasing amounts of packaging is being made from either compostable or biodegradable materials. 

Are you confused about biodegradable and compostable packaging? You’re not alone. Are they different? How do ‘sustainable’ packaging alternatives really affect the environment? Which one is the best? How do I dispose of them? In my previous post, I have done a thorough investigation into what biodegradable means. In this review I will take a look at compostable packaging.

What does Compostable mean?

Something is compostable if it can be broken down into organic matter through the composting process. https://materbi.com/en/about/biodegradability-and-compostability/

Unfortunately, nothing is ever simple when you are trying to be environmentally friendly (which is why I’m here). Not only does compostable packaging change how you dispose of it there are multiple options for composting itself, industrial and home composting.

What is the difference between Industrial and Home composting?

In theory, items marked as ‘home composting’ can go into your home compost bin, if you have one. If they are marked as industrial composting – they can only be composted at an industrial facility.

Added to this home compostable materials are always industrially compostable. But, industrially compostable materials cannot be composted at home.

Home composting produces nutrient rich soil as a result of the breakdown and heat produced by organic waste such as food scraps, garden waste, leaves and tea bags. Industrial composting creates a more sustained temperature enabling the composting process to happen more rigorously.

For example, Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer’s use packaging that is designed to break down in an ordinary home compost bin. Although they will decompose more quickly in an industrial bin, these products should break down at roughly the same speed as vegetable waste making them suitable for home composting.

How can I identify compostable packaging:

Strict European regulations surround what can be identified as industrially compostable (EN:13432). To be marked as ‘compostable’, packaging is required to break down in industrial composting conditions in 12 weeks leaving behind no harmful residue. The existence of this regulation means there are much stricter controls than there are for ‘biodegradable’ packaging.

Currently, there are no UK or international standards for home composting only independent and private schemes.

Certification schemes are the process by which an independent assessor checks that a material meets the required criteria. The most commonly used certifications for industrial composting within the UK (under EN 13432) are: ‒

·        OK Compost from TUV Austria

·         The seedling logo, which is licenced by European Bioplastics

·        The DIN Geprüft from Din Certco.

The Most Common Industrial Composting UK certifications

Compostable items and today’s waste management systems

The collection and treatment of food waste plays an important role in achieving recycling targets and effective tools and products that help householders and businesses recycle food easily are needed.

Unfortunately, although commercial composters can in theory process this waste, they are not doing so because of risk of contamination. The risk of normal plastic contaminating the compost system is a very real and impacts the application of the residual compost materials on agricultural land.

Local authorities and waste collection services across the world do not currently accept compostable packaging.

The Environment Journal reported that compostable packaging causes confusion, with many people incorrectly assuming that compostable packaging can be added to either their food waste, their green waste garden bins or their mixed recycling.

What do I do with compostable packaging waste?  

Compostable packaging cannot be recycled.

In reality, given the state of our waste management systems, we cannot send compostable packaging for industrial composting either.

So, despite packaging carrying a ‘compostable’ label and adhering to strict criteria, the only option for people at home is to put compostable packaging into general waste.

If you have a home compost you can put items marked ‘home compostable’ in your bin but breakdown may take longer than the industrially regulated 12 weeks.

The upside is that compostable packaging will break down faster than normal packaging in landfill but without the right environmental factors (mainly heat), how quickly this happens will vary dramatically.

Conclusion 

Future use of compostable materials and the development of new markets will be dependent on improvements in the design and labelling of compostable products as well as changes to waste management infrastructure and potentially to government waste policy.

But as it stands, whilst in theory, compostable packaging is a really valuable tool in our fight against single-use plastic, in reality, we are lacking the infrastructure to realise the benefits. So we are stuck with putting our composting waste into general waste.