We brought one of these cups home from work the other day. After we noticed they’d switched from styrofoam cups to what looked like plastic in the cafeteria, we were a bit concerned about the company’s green intentions. But upon closer inspection, we realized these puppies were compostable.
Look!: Compostable Plastic Cups
That’s not to say they weren’t ending up in plastic-lined trash bins at work, tossed in by oblivious colleagues. But we dutifully packed ours in the messenger bag and brought it home to ogle some more.
It still feels weird to toss this stuff into the compost pile—after all, it looks and feels just like petroleum-based plastic—so we did some research. According to Ecoproducts, cornstarch-based PLA (polylactide) breaks down at about 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
In commercial composting environments that bring on the heat, PLA can compost in as little as a month and a half. In your home compost heap, though, where temperatures may not get as hot as quickly, it can take a little longer. And, if you don’t have a compost bin but you just toss it out into the wooded area behind your apartment like we’re wont to do, it will take considerably longer to decompose on its own. Any of these options is still better than tossing it into a lined landfill.
So go ahead—throw it in and wait (patiently) for it to decompose into organic compounds.
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You're wont to do. Sorry, I'm an editor. I can't help it.
It sounds like what your workplace really needs now is a composting program (or at least, people who use it.)
view whytephoenix's profile
Hey! What's so bad about a lined landfill? Yes, I agree that composting is really good thing to do, especially if you have a garden. But, I also know quite a few people who are doing amazing things in harnessing energy from gases emitted from landfills. When I don't throw my food scraps in the garbage, they exclaim, "Hey! That's the good stuff!"
The "good stuff's" going in my garden, but someone who doesn't have a garden shouldn't worry much, in my opinion. It all gets composted somehow.
Kudos for the biodegradable cups at work.
view daisyliz's profile
It's my understanding that biodegradable plastic is made from corn. While I think it's still better than oil based plastic with nasty chemicals, it's probably still better to reuse a glass.
view SFGail's profile
yeah... amen SFGail.
really, i think the whole compostable take-out products thing stinks. i want to open a coffee shop that doesn't have take-out cups. we're sell to-go mugs, and we'll have mugs for use in the store. if the vibe is right and the coffee/tea/beverages/food are excellent quality, they will come. i just can't believe i haven't seen any of the locavore places around here taking the lead on that.
view closertotheocean's profile
Agreed. Better than petrolium based plastics but with the amount of petrochemicals used to grow the corn and the ramifications of highley subsidized, industrial use farmland it makes it a bit of a hollow victory, IMHO.
view misterwendell's profile
I've found that it takes about 2 months in my compost bin for these cups to compost. They stick around forever then one day I notice they are starting to crumble and look like they've been run over and a few weeks later I don't seem them at all! Sticks seem to stick around longer. ha ha.
view Green Me's profile
Totally hollow victory. It's not green to have biodegradable cups, it's just slightly less pollutey. These still have to be manufactured and shipped, even if they don't hang around in landfill forever - the green option is still to BYO mug!
view Rebekkap's profile
Compostable plates, cups and utensils are interim solutions just like biofuels. They are not the long term solution because they simply aren't sustainable. Think of how much agriculture would have to be converted to corn if all disposable plates, cups, and utensils were made from corn, not to mention the conversion necessary for the production of biofuels. What would the environmental impact of that be? And where would we put all the compost from these compostable items? When stepping back to examine the bigger picture, I do not believe these are viable sustainable solutions.
view boulderorganic's profile
One compostable option that avoids using food crops are the leaf based plates from Verterra. They use what would otherwise be agricultural "waste," so no extra land is put to use to make these. And damn, they're sturdy! I like that they took the time to make them look nice, not just hippie practical. You can even wash and reuse them. I like watching the post drying warped plates fall back into shape when I put food on them. You can see more about them at www.verterra.com
view GreenSmith's profile