How Different Are Compostable Bags, Really?

Aug. 19, 2024

How Different Are Compostable Bags, Really?

Paper bags

The other product that can be used to collect your organic waste is a lined paper bag. You may not realized that the paper bags used for this are lined, but they all are! A paper bag without a lining will not have any resistance to water. As a result, most paper bags are lined with cellulose. Cellulose is a natural product that is inexpensive and gives a moderate amount of protection from leaks. It does nothing to add strength or durability to the bag. Natural fiber bags do two things really well; compost and use sustainable materials. Where they fall short is in performance. These are usually in form of kraft paper bags that don&#;t work in bins (even when lined with compostable cellulose), and react very poorly to wet organics. However, in situations where their limitations can be accommodated, these bags live up to their environmental claims very well.

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Low-cost compostable film bags

A cheaper compostable film bag will have a very similar chemical make-up to a premium bags except the formula is tweaked to reduce the cost of the resin. This decreases the strength and leak resistance of the bag. Along with that, these bags will often have filler elements added in to further stretch how many bags can be produced. To top it off, many will label it as &#;Corn-based&#; to increase the appearance of the bag as being natural. This is a bit of a misnomer &#; all compostable bags have a compostable polymer as their base, with a lesser percentage of a renewable resource such as starch or PLA making up the balance. These &#;corn-based&#; alternatives contain starch, which has hydrophilic properties. The result is a bag that absorbs the moisture from your organic waste and will weaken, leak, and break much more easily.

Do You Really Need Compostable Bags for Your Food ...

If you save food scraps for composting, lining your kitchen collection bin with a bag labeled as compostable or biodegradable may seem like a great way to keep it clean and transport all those veggie peels and coffee grinds to your compost heap or municipal dropoff point. However, whether or not you actually need to buy those liners depends on several factors&#;and in fact, many experts say it&#;s better to forgo liners altogether or just reuse paper bags instead.

Here's what you need to know about compost bin liners, why they may do more harm than good even if they&#;re compostable, and how you can keep your kitchen tidy without them.

What are compostable bags or bin liners?

Compostable bags may look and feel similar to plastic produce bags made from petroleum, but they&#;re manufactured out of plant-based materials, such as vegetable starches, wood pulp, lactic acid, or soy proteins. These materials are designed to be consumed by microorganisms that help them decompose into the soil-like organic substance we know as compost.

The problem is that not all composting systems create the right environment for these bags to fully break down. Typically, only municipal or commercial composting facilities&#;not home composting setups&#;generate enough heat, moisture, and airflow to allow for full decomposition. But these facilities can also differ in their capacities, so even if your food scraps get collected for off-site composting, compostable bags may still be prohibited.

Can I put compostable bags in with my food waste?

It depends. Just as every town seems to have its own set of rules about what kind of recycling it accepts, one composting system may differ from another in its ability to take compostable bags.

The most important thing you can do is confirm with your municipal collection, compost drop-off, or private composting service what kinds of materials are and aren&#;t allowed and then abide by that.

If you are allowed to use compostable bags, your best bet is to look for ones with a logo from the Biodegradable Products Institute, a not-for-profit organization that issues a compostability certification widely considered the gold standard in the US. (You can also check here to see if an item is BPI certified.) The certification relies in part on ASTM International compostability standards to determine whether an item will break down &#;quickly, completely and safely, when composted in well-run municipal and commercial facilities.&#; It also prohibits the addition of per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), which are sometimes used in packaging and can persist in the environment for a very long time.

Can I put compostable bags in my home compost heap?

You probably don&#;t want to, since they likely won&#;t decompose well. At-home composting systems, including tumblers, in-ground composters, and worm towers, typically don&#;t generate enough heat to fully break the bags down. &#;We have experimented with trying to compost these bags in backyard tumblers and did not have much success; they composted somewhat, but definitely not fully,&#; Michelle Bradley, co-founder of Java&#;s Compost, a private composting service in New Jersey, said in an interview.

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Can I compost so-called biodegradable plastic bags?

No, you can&#;t. A bag (or another disposable item, like plastic cutlery) that&#;s labeled biodegradable is not necessarily also compostable. In fact, BPI executive director Rhodes Yepsen said in an interview that biodegradable is a word that&#;s &#;too vague to be meaningful&#; as a marketing term on its own without additional context. A manufacturer can call an item biodegradable without specifying that the degradation process could take centuries or require a specific environment to thoroughly degrade. The term also doesn&#;t necessarily mean that the item breaks down into nontoxic components, either; it just means that, sooner or later, it breaks down into something else.

&#;It&#;s not a real thing,&#; at least not in terms of waste management, said New York City Department of Sanitation commissioner Jessica Tisch in a interview. &#;If a product can&#;t be composted, it&#;s going to a landfill. And if it&#;s going to a landfill, the biodegradable stuff in a landfill sits there for decades or centuries.&#;

How can I keep my kitchen scrap bin clean?

Some cities suggest residents use brown paper bags or newspaper as liners for their food-scrap containers instead of buying so-called compostable bags. But as always, if you&#;re participating in an off-site composting program, it&#;s best to confirm if paper bags are accepted. For at-home composting, brown paper bags are a great addition to your pile, since paper goods can improve the nutritional balance of compost.

Stashing food scraps in your freezer is another way to keep things tidy and odor free. Tisch (who opts for this method at home) noted that if you store your compost in the freezer you can forgo a countertop bin altogether; instead, you can use something like an old plastic takeout container, which you can wash between uses.

If you opt for a countertop container, one with a built-in charcoal filter helps reduce odor. (The Oggi Countertop Compost Pail comes with a filter and is a staff favorite.) And, of course, if you take out the bin often and rinse it out after each use, smells shouldn&#;t build up in the first place.

If you&#;re looking for more recommendations about what to do with those scraps after you&#;ve collected them, check out our staff&#;s favorite compost bins.

This article was edited by Katie Okamoto and Christine Cyr Clisset.