Can you actually compost silverware? What about trash bags?

A few months ago, I posted a photo of a fork on Instagram. The photo was overlaid with text that read: “This ‘compostable’ fork has been in the compost for 3 months.” This was a joke that I assumed everybody would get because I also assumed that everybody knew—like me—that “compostable” silverware is a scam. Upon reflection, that was a dumb assumption. My DMs were immediately flooded with exclamatory revelations from both friends and strangers who had taken my post as an invitation to Google whether you could actually compost all those “compostable” take-out utensils. (You can’t.) Many of them sent me the same article to cite their research. To be honest, I was fairly impressed that so many people were curious enough about a random thing I posted on Instagram to actually go out, read about it, and report back. It’s one of the events that inspired me to start this Substack, in fact, because it alerted me to the fact that people actually care.

I’d be thrilled if we lived in a world where our supply chains consisted of authentically compostable consumables, and where we also had the infrastructure in place to support their responsible disposal. We do not live in that world. Too many compostable items are simply thrown in the trash and then end up in a landfill, where—deprived of oxygen— they emit voluminous quantities of methane as they break down. Too many compostable items require specialized, commercial-grade composting facilities in order to be broken down properly. In general, any compostable product is only as good as its “end of life” scenario (i.e. how it is treated after it’s done being used), and we don’t have either the consumer awareness or the infrastructure to do that part well—yet.

A note on PLA bioplastics

Many items that advertise themselves as compostable are made from PLA bioplastics, i.e. “polylactic acid” plastics. These are produced through a complex mechanical process from any fermentable sugar (corn, potato, sugarcane, shells, seaweed), and they can be biodegraded (again, through a complex mechanical process). PLA bioplastics are a net gain for the environment when compared to petroluem-based traditional plastics, but they are by no means a perfect solution. They still come with environmental costs, and those costs will grow as adoption scales. For example, PLA bioplastics will not easily biodegrade if they are not disposed of properly, and they can cause problematic pollution in our oceans, where they don’t break down easily and can choke a sea turtle just as easily as your average plastic bag. They can also contaminate your recycling bin (standards for recycling vary by city and state, you’ll need to look yours up). Lastly, PLA bioplastics are made of ingredients that need to be grown, sourced, and milled. That requires significant land and water use. Large industrial plants are required for their manufacture, with all the attendant carbon and waste implications. As we transition to more environmentally-friendly materials, all of these risks and tradeoffs will need to be thoughtfully managed (which I believe is entirely possible!).

“Biodegradable, compostable, eco-friendly”

There are a world of terms associated with different products that are hoping to catch the eye of climate-aware consumers, and not currently a ton of regulation in how they are used and what they imply. Not all bioplastics are biodegradable, not all biodegradable products are compostable, and not all compostable products will break down in your backyard pile. It’s tough to keep it all straight. In general, I avoid “biodegradable” as a short-hand term—too often, it simply means something can be degraded using natural processes, even if the end product is still toxic, or it takes 150 years for degradation to actually happen. When something claims to be “compostable,” you’re more likely to end up with a product that can actually decompose in a reasonable timeframe into something resembling healthy soil. Look for third-party certifications no matter what.

Silverware

Compostable silverware is made from biodegradable materials, but it’s shaped and finished by complex chemical processes. That means the finished products can’t just break down in your backyard heap. They need to go to industrial composting facilites, where they will be pulverized into tiny pieces and heated to incredibly high temperatures before they can biodegrade. As of 2019, there were less than 200 facilities prepared to undertake this process. The odds are not high that you live near one.

Trash bags

There are many different types of compostable bags on the market these days, and it feels like each one claims to decompose in a different way. You can look for “backyard compostable” to find the most promising material for backyard pile breakdown, although be aware it can take up to six months for this to actually happen. I’ll also note that a lot of community compost nonprofits don’t actually take compostable bags because the variety of materials and proper disposal methods are too confusing and difficult to track at scale. (Many I’ve worked with actually strip the bags from the food waste and throw them away.) If you’re going to go the route of compostable bags, research the specific brand you’re buying and it’s ingredients. Proper disposal methods can vary tremendously, and you risk polluting other waste streams (like your recycling bin) and/or the environment, if you don’t take the right steps. If you vermicompost, you can feed most compostable bags to worms—but I would do so in small-ish amounts.

In general, I’m empathic to arguments that individuals can only have so much climate impact given the giant structural obstacles we face, but I’m also weary of the “But it’s not OUR fault!” style of complacency that I’ve seen stem from that line of thinking. It’s not our fault, but it is our problem—which is why I find education vital, and awareness the bare minimum. In general, assume that anybody advertising to you is lying at least a little. (Sometimes: a lot.)

At the end of the day, there’s no easy rule for buying the “right” thing when it comes to making climate-conscious purchasing decisions. In some ways, the idea that we could get out of this mess simply by buying one thing instead of the other is kind of representative of the whole problem. Some good general rules to follow are to look for “backyard” compostable labels (not just “compostable”), and to do continuous research. Google ingredients, and google product names. There are a lot of people out there putting a lot of time and effort into watch-dogging these types of claims, and you will find your way to their work. You should also consider the entire end-of-life cycle of any product, including how far it might have to travel to be properly disposed of.

It all counts.

This is more esoteric, and more difficult, but when I’m shopping, I always try to ask myself whether a purchase is asking me to actually change my behavior, or if it’s just providing a “green” version of an existing consumer habit (for example: constant food delivery, compostable silverware). If any prospective purchase is the latter, it’s more often than not that I subsequently discover it’s a scam. Unfortunately, every single way we currently live is unsustainable—from how we grow food to how we dispose of our dead. Addressing the climate crisis is going to require that we embrace the discomfort of difficult change, and some willingness by our most comfortable classes to forgo some of their most beloved habits.

Love,

Cass