The Home Compostable Revolution for Single-Use Products

May 1, 2020

Last week’s 50th Anniversary celebration of Earth Day could not have come at a better time. As we continue to see changes in our planet as a result of the self-quarantine of human beings, it’s important to look to the post-COVID future. We don’t want to undo all of the work Mother Nature did while we were away. We need to take this opportunity and run with it and continue to make changes that will support our planet and our society as well. One of the largest problems to tackle is single-use plastics. They’ve created a noose around the neck of our planet, which hasn’t loosened at all during the quarantine. It has simply changed from a noose of plastic bottles to a noose of rubber gloves. This week, UrthPact is diving into the revolutionary solution to our single-use problem: home compostable bioplastics.

Home compostable truly is the future of the plastics industry. The base of home compostable bioplastics is a material called PHA, or polyhydroxyalkanoate. It’s a type of compostable polymer that is naturally produced by a variety of microorganisms. Made from the products of canola oil production, PHA can be combined with other compostable materials to produce products with a wide range of characteristics. One incredible organization that has truly jump-started the bioplastic revolution is Danimer Scientific. Based out of Bainbridge, Georgia, Danimer combines biotechnology and engineering to produce PHA for use in a variety of different projects. As a long-time partner with Danimer, UrthPact has been working alongside Danimer scientists to develop the Nodax™ PHA resin, as well as to put it to use in our products.

Let’s look into the details a bit. What truly makes home compostable materials revolutionary? The clearest answer is the fact that they are certified for home compost. Home compostables are different from all of the other “compostable” products out there. Many of those are industrially compostable, meaning they are made with a different bioplastic called PLA (polylactic acids), and require added heat and microbes in order to compost. Home compost is a whole new opportunity, as it means that this material and products made from it can compost not only in your own backyard but anaerobically in landfills and in marine environments if they accidentally get there. The compost produced can then be used to support the growth of new canola plants. This gives home compostables a completely circular lifecycle, something that will never be able to be said of traditional petroleum-based plastics. Because it’s about the beginning of the material’s life too. Creating products with petroleum-plastics is very unhealthy for the environment, while PHA production is completely clean and green.

A lot of people want to ban single-use plastics outright. But realistically, that will never work. How could we have combated coronavirus without single-use gloves? Or masks? Or food packaging? Bans are short-sighted. Home compost is the true solution for the single-use industry. And with a revolutionary base material like PHA plus the technology to use it to create home compostable products on an industrial scale, we are just on the cusp of completely blowing apart the mold. At UrthPact, our partnership with organizations like Danimer Scientific gives us the opportunity to be at the forefront of this revolution. Our home compostable straws are just the first step towards the bioplastic future. We’ve joined in the revolution. Will you?

Industrial Composting: What It Is and How It Works

Aug 24, 2017

The world is awash in traditional, petroleum-based plastics that are choking our waterways and filling up our landfills. Here at UrthPact, we’re committed to compostable plastic products, providing manufacturers and consumers with the plastics they want and need, but created using environmentally-friendly, biodegradable raw materials that can be safely composted to nourish the earth.

Today, in addition to the conventional backyard compost pile or bin that can efficiently handle small amounts of waste materials from lawns, gardens and kitchens there are industrial composting facilities designed to effectively process large volumes of municipal and commercial waste.

There are basically three techniques used in industrial composting: windrow, in-vessel, and aerated static pile composting. Windrow composting is an open-air process that places the composting material into long piles approximately 5 feet high called “windrows.” These windrows are turned regularly to ensure that all the composting materials spends some time in the warm, moist center of the pile where bacterial activity produces heat that encourages further breakdown. Because windrow composting is on open air process, it is used primarily for yard and garden waste to help control odor.

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Plastic Makers Facing New Regulations Around Circular Economy

Apr 13, 2017

As recycling initiatives pick up steam nationwide and increasing numbers of states and communities embrace easier, more convenient recycling programs, legislatures are starting to consider more aggressive regulations around something called extender producer responsibility (EPR).

EPR is a fundamental element of a larger economic approach known as a circular economy. Essentially, a circular economy is an approach to manufacturing and recycling aimed at reducing wasting and avoiding pollution in two ways – through the use of biological nutrients which re-enter the biosphere to break down safely, and technical nutrients, which are high quality components that can be recaptured and re-used over and over again in the manufacturing process.

By extending producer responsibilities for their products and the materials used to make them, governments are mandating that companies assume end-of-lifecycle responsibility for what they use and how they use it. EPR systems and programs, such as the one now in place in California managed by the Department of Resources Recovery and Recycling, require manufacturers to fund and manage recycling and disposal programs for their products. In the United Kingdom, government regulations now require packaging manufacturers to ensure a certain proportion of their packaging is recovered and recycled.

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A Look at Home Composting in Winter

Mar 9, 2017

Last October, Urthpact CEO Paul Boudreau sent his leadership team to Green Mountain Compost in Vermont to get the inside view on the challenges that composters face and how to make our compostable plastic products even more eco-friendly.

Paul Boudreau and the UrthPact team were reminded of a few important facts about composting that they thought would be helpful to pass along.  First and foremost is the fact that not all compostable materials breakdown easily. For products to be “certified compostable” they must:

• Break down completely into organic matter
• Break down 90% in 84 days.
• Be consumed by microorganisms in the compost at the same rate as natural materials such as leaves and food scraps

Our vegetable-derived plastics are compostable, but composting must occur in a commercial compost system that utilizes higher temperatures and a greater concentration of bacteria to do the work. They will not break down easily – at least not yet — in a simple backyard compost pile. Fortunately, commercial composting does work well for our retail-use, compostable plastic products.

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