Shrimp shells get a lot of uses. There's the red colouring I foods and other things. Or they get a kind of enamel type of material that's used in nail varnish. I heard that the shells are a good part of the profit of scrimping. The fact that someone used it to make compostable or biodegradable plastics is really just using a modified chemical reaction to achieve that end use. Known science such that it's just developing the right conditions for factory production. I used to know a chemistry doctor who's job was to design the reaction to produce small batch, speciality chemicals fox customers. Very bright guy but this would be bread and butter stuff for people in his role.
I put my "compostable" or "home compostable" packaging in the council's food waste bin, because I'm not convinced the ones designed for home composting will disappear in my heap. I've also had the experience of food waste bags, supposedly home compostable, reappearing year after year...
Also, some "home compostable" bags used by the local health food shop have labels stuck to them which are impossible to remove. I doubt if those would compost satisfactorily.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
However if the manufacturer is expecting it to be like orange peel then don't expect a rapid compost at all. Orange peel and banana peel certainly persists in the natural environment long after discarding by the scrotes too lazy to dispose of properly.
I don't they mean orange peel literally, but that you dispose of it in your home composter in the same way.
Research I read a few years back about biodegradable/compostable
polymers like these ones wasn't very encouraging. They persisted in
recognisable form as a shopping bag after a year exposed to seawater,
fresh water, earth and air. In some cases still strong enough to carry a
typical shopping load.
Material specifically stated for home composting shouldn't face these problems. Part of the problem was that the terms were unclear; which types needed to be 'composted' or biodegraded in special processes, industrially or at high heat.
The anecdotal evidence and lack of clear labelling/content means that I don't put in my compost bin.
Although the technology (as it does in everything) may be progressing quickly, I can't help thinking that the majority of the population will always be 'late to the party' as they aren't given enough clear information or incentive (that's a whole different discussion).
Government and most of the individual companies will always be quicker to act for £££s. Being allowed to call something bio-degradable, home compostable, etc. when it isn't, possibly sets back the whole movement rather than advances it.
..I've only seen the Home Compostable bags around for a while. Which I believe as Dove mentions are made from starch….
Some bio-polymers are made from potato starch, the solid bowls and knives and things, I believe….
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The potato farmers use a biodegradable film sheet made from potato starch to protect their crops from frost, instead of the sheets of plastic that used to blow around and get tangled in hedges and prove impossible to remove. That was a real pollutant, but the new film really does biodegrade quite quickly.
I see no reason why that material isn’t being used for compostable bags … in fact I know it is, in some cases.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The potato farmers use a biodegradable film sheet made from potato starch to protect their crops from frost, instead of the sheets of plastic that used to blow around and get tangled in hedges and prove impossible to remove. That was a real pollutant, but the new film really does biodegrade quite quickly.
I see no reason why that material isn’t being used for compostable bags … in fact I know it is, in some cases.
That's great to know. I always wonder what the crop cover is made of.
I think there's a huge difference between something labelled as 'suitable for home composting' and it actually working within a reasonable length of time. It's the same as the situation with baby wipes. Claiming they were flushable doesn't mean they should be flushed. At least that's now been addressed. As anyone who has ever had young children knows - just because something can be flushed, doesn't mean it should
It would be good if there was some consistency with suppliers. The new plastic packaging in some supermarkets can all be recycled, including the film lid, but others still have the 'film not recyclable' labelling. I expect it will improve though.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
In short - the conclusion of the experiments by over 1000 UK citizens is - no - plastics marked as "home compostable" currently do not always properly compost at home. Also the field/labelling is very confusing, unregulated and all over the place at the moment and it all needs to drastically improve.
When I emptied the compost bin which I put my kitchen waste in I got to the bottom and thought why are all of these plastic bags in here then realising that they were Lidl compostable bags still containing kitchen waste which went into the bin 12 months ago, they looked exactly the same as when they had gone to the bin, maybe the bin wasn't hot, maybe they need longer than 12 months to rot but I won't bother composting these bags again.
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Also, some "home compostable" bags used by the local health food shop have labels stuck to them which are impossible to remove. I doubt if those would compost satisfactorily.
Although the technology (as it does in everything) may be progressing quickly, I can't help thinking that the majority of the population will always be 'late to the party' as they aren't given enough clear information or incentive (that's a whole different discussion).
Government and most of the individual companies will always be quicker to act for £££s. Being allowed to call something bio-degradable, home compostable, etc. when it isn't, possibly sets back the whole movement rather than advances it.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It's the same as the situation with baby wipes. Claiming they were flushable doesn't mean they should be flushed. At least that's now been addressed.
As anyone who has ever had young children knows - just because something can be flushed, doesn't mean it should
It would be good if there was some consistency with suppliers. The new plastic packaging in some supermarkets can all be recycled, including the film lid, but others still have the 'film not recyclable' labelling. I expect it will improve though.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...