Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - [permaculture] Composting Biodegradeable Plastic Bags

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia@yahoo.com>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] Composting Biodegradeable Plastic Bags
  • Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2009 15:46:53 -0700 (PDT)

I too once tried composting some corn-based biodegradable plastic cups.  I
decided to indulge myself, for once, and try some out for our commitment
ceremony four years ago.  The cups can still be found in the compost pile.  I
probably should have tried recycling them.  They are supposed to degrade in
six months.  It's possible that in a climate with year-round moisture (I'm in
California) or irrigation and mild temperatures, this would be true, but I
doubt it. 
 
I got excited, recently, when I heard about polyethylene being made from
sugarcane ethanol in Brazil.  It would be great to still have water tanks and
pipe after fossil fuels are depleted, but probably only the rich will be able
to afford it.  Corn-derived plastics are probably a gimmick, as Larry
mentioned.



>From jocecampbell@gmail.com Sat Aug 1 19:36:42 2009
Return-Path: <jocecampbell@gmail.com>
X-Original-To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Delivered-To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Received: by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix, from userid 3002)
id 938184C012; Sat, 1 Aug 2009 19:36:42 -0400 (EDT)
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.3 (2007-08-08) on malecky
X-Spam-Level:
X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=HTML_MESSAGE,
REMOVE_BEFORE_LINK autolearn=disabled version=3.2.3
Received: from mail-yw0-f204.google.com (mail-yw0-f204.google.com
[209.85.211.204])
by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AAC514C014
for <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>;
Sat, 1 Aug 2009 19:36:34 -0400 (EDT)
Received: by ywh42 with SMTP id 42so2861506ywh.30
for <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>;
Sat, 01 Aug 2009 16:36:34 -0700 (PDT)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Received: by 10.100.14.2 with SMTP id 2mr4652199ann.4.1249169794337; Sat, 01
Aug 2009 16:36:34 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <486693.89676.qm@web38105.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
References: <486693.89676.qm@web38105.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2009 16:36:34 -0700
Message-ID: <2a9e509c0908011636h60795f4xb22301db1bfe8da@mail.gmail.com>
From: Jocelyn Campbell <jocecampbell@gmail.com>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.9
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Composting Biodegradeable Plastic Bags
X-BeenThere: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9
Precedence: list
Reply-To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Id: permaculture <permaculture.lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture>,
<mailto:permaculture-request@lists.ibiblio.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture>
List-Post: <mailto:permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Help: <mailto:sympa@lists.ibiblio.org?subject=HELP>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture>,
<mailto:permaculture-request@lists.ibiblio.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 01 Aug 2009 23:36:42 -0000

Here's a brief article on "compostable plastic" which includes a few other
excellent links
http://blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen/2009/03/just_the_facts_about_compostab.html.
The link labeled "biodegradable conundrum" mentions plastic bags among many
other items that supposedly biodegrade. Another link is a flier by
Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability asking residents NOT to put
biodegradable plastics in with yard waste recycling, and NOT to try
composting them at home. A lot of these conversations are more about plastic
containers and forks than bags, though all seem to be saying that only
industrial composting facilities get hot enough to compost these new
plastics.

On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 3:46 PM, Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia@yahoo.com>wrote:

> I too once tried composting some corn-based biodegradable plastic cups. I
> decided to indulge myself, for once, and try some out for our commitment
> ceremony four years ago. The cups can still be found in the compost pile.
> I probably should have tried recycling them. They are supposed to degrade
> in six months. It's possible that in a climate with year-round moisture
> (I'm in California) or irrigation and mild temperatures, this would be true,
> but I doubt it.
>
> I got excited, recently, when I heard about polyethylene being made from
> sugarcane ethanol in Brazil. It would be great to still have water tanks
> and pipe after fossil fuels are depleted, but probably only the rich will be
> able to afford it. Corn-derived plastics are probably a gimmick, as Larry
> mentioned.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subscribe or unsubscribe here:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
> Google command to search archives:
> site:https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture searchstring
>
>
>


--
Eco Events | QuickBooks | Accounting | 206.779.3707
www.jocelynsevents.com | www.jocelyncampbell.com

~~please think twice before printing this or any e-mail~~




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page