![[Solid Waste Resource Renewal Group]](http://njaes.rutgers.edu/_common/images/subheads/swrrg.gif "[Solid Waste Resource Renewal Group]"){kind=small}
WHICH COMPOSTABLE PRODUCTS WORK
WITH FOOD WASTE RECYCLING?
Stated another way, unless you will be composting or processing the trash liners and/or disposable tableware in a commercial program, including any of the ones listed in our [Facilities Section], you are wasting your money buying products which are designated as compostable or biodegradable. If you are not composting or recycling, then the materials will be going to a landfill, where they do not biodegrade significantly, since landfills exclude most of the air and water which allow things to break down. What degradation occurs is anaerobic, not aerobic, and produces methane.
All that having been said, once you have started participating in a recycling program, how do you select compatible compostable or biodegradable materials? And why even do so?
One of the major problems with food waste recycling programs is contamination, namely things other than food waste that people accidentally put in along with food waste—and the major contaminants are plastic and plastic coated materials. After you have spent a lot of time separating out a load of food waste in order to send it to a recycling/composting facility, the last thing you want is for that facility to reject the load because of contamination. If the load is rejected for contamination, you will end up paying extra—you will pay once to have the load transported to the recycling facility, only to have it rejected and sent to a landfill—for which you will pick up both an extra hauling fee and the higher tipping fee. Accordingly, the use of compostable materials is crucial to the success of a food waste recycling program.
The use of the terms compostable and biodegradable can be almost meaningless unless you can measure the claims the terms represent against an objective standard. Accordingly, the Biodegradable Products Institute has created lists of approved products, using specially designed ASTM standards. A list of Approved Compostable Bags can be found at: http://www.bpiworld.org/BPI-Public/Approved/2.html. Compostable bags are described as:
. . . designed to disintegrate and biodegrade quickly and safely, when composted in a professionally managed composting facility. All approved products meet stringent scientifically based specifications: ASTM D6400 or ASTM D6868. These products are ideal for organics diversion programs.
A list of Approved Foodservice Products can be found at: http://www.bpiworld.org/BPI-Public/Approved/2.html. These products are described as:
This category includes manufacturers of foodservice items, such as plates, cups, bowls, fruit bowls and other items used to serve meals. All are designed to disintegrate and biodegrade quickly and safely, when composted in a professionally managed facility. All approved products meet stringent, scientifically based specifications: ASTM D6400 or ASTM D6868.
