"A Pathway for Compostable Plastics through Foodservice
Operation Diversion"
presenter: Tom Wright, SustainableBizness.com
I consult with various entities concerned with foodservice
food-scraps and packaging recovery including Whole Foods
Markets, and Resource Recycling Systems, therefore I
would show some successful systems, and some not so
successful systems as part of this presentation.
There will be examples of working, regulated collaboration,
and the theory that in North America an organization can be
created to make compostable plastics have a normal
infrastructure for authentic compost-ability.
Abstract
The infrastructure that would commercially compost
"Certified Compostable" plastics, used in food service
operations is at a crossroads.
50-70% of the weight of a foodservice operation's throughput
consists of compostable food items. Food packaging makes
up most of the remaining weight of the throughput. IF that
normally-single-use packaging material was purposely
designed to compost with the food scraps, nearly 100% of
the 'waste stream' could avoid landfill, and be recovered
through the single stream of commercial composting.
If there was increased food scrap diversion – then why use
Certified Compostable plastic products ?
Key reasons for using certified compostable plastic products
include:
Compostable plastic bags could play an important role in
the collection of food scrap resulting in increased diversion.
In addition, compostable foodservice ware could be used in
restaurant and institutional settings, making co-collection of
food scraps and compostable service ware in compostable
bags an acceptable option for composting facilities. Food
scrap diversion incorporating compostable plastics should
be carefully planned and operated to limit the potential for
these materials to cross-contaminate other plastic recycling
programs.
How available are these products to meet foodservice
needs?
There are a wide variety of compostable foodservice ware
products available on the market: cups, plates, bowls,
clamshells, cutlery, straws, gloves, trays, bottles, bags,
boxes, coffee sleeves and sheets, hot and cold lids for paper
and clear plastic cups, and various formats of foodservice
ware including flexible and rigid packaging. There are many
different brands to choose from for products in every
category. Almost every disposable product has a
compostable alternative that works as well as the traditional
products.
What are the impediments to making the packaging
compostable in the same stream as the food scraps ?
- Only 3.9% of food scraps are currently being diverted (EPA
2011 stat); many states, counties, and muniicpalities lack
the will to collect foods scraps,
although 57% of yard trimmings and leaves are being
collected.
- Education of civil servants and politicians: these policies
would help their Zero Waste goals
- The majority of haulers of the yard trimmings are not in the
food scraps hauling business at the same time
- Most commercial composters are not licensed to take foods
scraps.
- The majority of commercial composters that do take food
scraps, either
a) take no certified compostable plastics (some because it
would decrease the value of their compost;
e.g. they could not position the final product as OMRI-listed
soil amendment)
b) take only film plastics (bags), not rigid plastics (cups,
utensils)
c) Some who do take rigid certified compostable plastic
complain that the material does not break down :
i.e. certification is based on 90% degradation within 180
days, and the composter itself needs 90% degradation in 90
days
d) Some products that are NOT certified compostable
position themselves as "biodegradable" and do not
compost,
and become obnoxious contaminants, and need to be
filtered out, adding expense, and making the composter
weary of foodservice packaging.
What is a solution? There could be a collaboration of competitors
and service providers:
resin makers, fabricators, major restaurant and foodservice ware
distributors, major foodservice retailers,
their food scrap haulers, soil scientists, commercial composters, and
zero waste advocates -- both civil and NGO -and certifiers of the plastic foodservice ware products'
compostability.
This collaboration could work in unison toward the goal, for
foodservice operations with 'single-use-disposable' packaging,
to create voluntary-self-regulation for the quality recovery of the
certified compostable plastics -- so do they compost easily in the
commercial systems.
It can be done.
It is not for a lack of science, it is a lack of focus and organization.