Our compostable film has a bio base of 55%.

It is made from layers of wood-pulp based cellulose and a bio-based biodegradable polymer with a spray deposition of aluminium.

The aluminium provides a moisture barrier property which is crucial for holding our liquids.

Essentially these both refer to a material’s ability to decompose under natural conditions.

The key difference is the term ‘biodegradable’ does not specify what these conditions are or how long it takes to break down.

Composting takes place in specific conditions and can be measured to provide guidelines on how long it will take to decompose.

Basically, all compostable plastics are biodegradable, but not all biodegradable plastics are compostable. 

No, compostable materials cannot be recycled. They should not be put in your recycling bin because they will contaminate the materials which can be recycled.

They are designed to break down, so if they end up in something you don’t want to break down that poses an issue.
Imagine a tent constructed from recycled plastics which is contaminated with compostables for example…

Not necessarily, it depends on what it’s used for. Some conventional plastics, such as the clear PET used for bottles can be very easily recycled and there is a strong market for clear recycled PET.

Compostables are better to suited to flexible films, these are difficult to recycle but are naturally inclined to break more down quickly.

Industrial composting is used to process garden waste, and some food waste. Your garden bin goes to industrial compost facilities.

The conditions are controlled to ensure the material breaks down under industrial-scale composting conditions within 12 weeks.

All home compostable materials can also go to industrial composting. Some industrially compostable materials can also break down in home compost, but if they take longer than 28 weeks they cannot carry the ‘home compost’ certification.

Not much! if you throw your film in the bin and it ends up in landfill, it will not compost.

In the UK, most rubbish is incinerated anyway. In this case, bio-films don’t emit noxious gasses like conventional plastic does.

No, unfortunately not. That goes for any compostable plastics, not just ours.

Although we are all sold compostable caddy liners and told to use these, the reality is that food waste goes to an anaerobic digestion (AD) site for processing. In our conversations with AD sites, they’ve told us the first thing that they do is remove all plastics, compostable or otherwise from the food waste.

It’s actually just a way to get more people to separate their food waste from their general waste.

Food waste is incredibly valuable as it means biogas companies can convert the food waste to fuel.

Magic! No, just kidding. It’s made from a blend of materials similar to those you find on dishwasher tabs and laundry pods.

It dissolves fastest in hot water >70c.

It’s marine safe and is broken down by bacteria into water, carbon dioxide and biomass.

The outer metallised layer is a very fine layer of sprayed aluminium. It has no effect on eco-toxicity and will rapidly oxidise in a compost heat to aluminium oxide which is inert.

The aluminium provides a moisture barrier property which is crucial for holding our liquids.

The films are independently tested for compostability, biodegradation and eco-toxicity via a lab in Belgium and are peer reviewed and accredited via an independent body called TUV.

They are certified to EN13432 standards for industrial composting, but will break down in home compost conditions in around 34 weeks, 6 weeks longer than required to be certified ‘home compost’.

Our card is printed with vegetable inks in the U.K. by our World Land Trust certified printers. The material comes from FSC certified sources.

Cardboard is widely and easily recycled, it’s also compostable… Rip it up and sprinkle in your compost heap for yummy worm food!