Category: Bio Plastics

Are Compostable Utensils Really Compostable?

Their names range from the catchy (TaterWare, WheatWare, SpudWare) to the merely descriptive (Compostable utensils, PLA utensils, etc.) And while they are touted as an alternative to petroleum-based plastics, very few of them are actually compostable in a real world situation.
TaterWare
Take, for example, TaterWare, made from potato starch, of course. Many of the [...]

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Collecting Garbage Without Plastic Trash Bags?

It’s a new week, and I’m ready to talk trash. One of the most common questions I get about plastic-free living is what I do for garbage bags. And the second most common question is what to line our waste cans with if plastic grocery bags are banned.
Here’s my short answer: We don’t [...]

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Birthday Plastic Report

As I mentioned last week, Thursday was my birthday, and my office mates threw me the traditional birthday lunch, complete with take-out food, some living plant-type thing, ice cream, and presents. I love this celebration but I’m also wary of the amount of plastic I might accumulate. So let’s see how we did this year.

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Contest Answer: BioBags okay for compost only.

A week ago, I showed this photo from the SF Green Festival and asked what was wrong with this picture. No one offered the specific answer I was looking for, but many gave great partial attempts.
Ken O. noticed that all the bin liners are biodegradable, and he’s right. In fact, they are all [...]

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Compostable Containers: Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.

This is a photo of a few things I brought home from the Outside Lands Music Festival Friday night: Two compostable cups made from corn and two compostable potato or cornstarch spoons. (Mine and my friend’s.) As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I forgot to bring my cute reusable bamboo utensils with me. [...]

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Hidden Plastic

Confession time again. Well, maybe not a confession, but more of a clarification. There is some plastic that I use that I don’t include in my tally. It’s plastic that hides in objects that many people don’t realize contain plastic. Plastic that coats and lines cartons and cans and caps and [...]

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Think outside the Biota bottle

Marika sent me an e-mail a few days ago asking what I thought of the new Biota water, which is the first water bottled in a compostable corn-based bottle. This issue is probably moot because according to Biota’s site, the company is out of business, having been “stomped To Death By UPS Capital, A [...]

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BioBags vs. Plastic Bags: A Continuing Debate

In response to yesterday’s post on Eco-runners collecting litter in BioBags, an anonymous commenter had this to say:
If you’re planning on landfilling non-reusable, non-recyclable materials, there really isn’t any point in using compostable bags to do it in. Organic material doesn’t compost or properly biodegrade in landfills. It breaks down anaerobically, producing methane.
It would probably [...]

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Store Report: Trader Joe’s & NatureWorks ® PLA

When we learned in February that a Trader Joe’s was going to be moving in to the old Albertson’s building just a few blocks from our house and right near the Rockridge BART station, we were thrilled. In fact, the idea of Trader Joe’s coming has been enough to lift me out of the [...]

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Store Report: Elephant Pharmacy

Just like Whole Foods, this natural pharmacy contains very few items that are not packaged in plastic. Recycled toilet paper in plastic. Recycled napkins in plastic. Natural cellulose sponges in plastic. Natural cleaning products in plastic. Natural cosmetics, drugs, foods, bric-a-brac in plastic. Here are the few plastic-free items [...]

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