All About Compostable and Biodegradable Packaging

Why Do We Need All This Packaging in the First Place?

You can find excess packaging on everything from a cucumber to a flat screen television. In some cases, packaging is desirable – the contents may be liquid or sterilised, or it may help extend its shelf life. In other cases, excess packaging seems to be little more than an advertising platform.

Every layer of packaging that lies between the product and the consumer is a layer that needs to be disposed of. The more waste we generate, the more land we need for landfills. And what if those landfills are home to products that take decades to break down?

That leaves us requiring a home for the packaging far after the product was consumed. Some packaging has harmful chemicals that leach into the soil at the landfill and can put our water supply at risk.

Recyclable packaging could be a solution. But sometimes the amount of energy required for recycling may not be viable. Even if a material is easy to recycle, it’s not guaranteed that it can be used in a new product. Not to mention that some local areas have limited or no recycling programmes easily available.

One solution, that we are now utilising, is the use of compostable or biodegradable packaging.

What’s the Difference?

Compostable packaging breaks down in a home compost pile or a commercial composting facility. It forms decayed organic substances that can be used as a fertiliser, benefiting the soil. This generally takes a few months, but how long the process takes and what conditions are required can differ. There are strict criteria used to certify packaging as compostable in the UK.

Biodegradable packaging also breaks down over time. It will completely return to nature in a comparatively short amount of time. It doesn’t need special conditions, but it also doesn’t necessarily benefit the soil.

It’s how you plan to dispose of it, that makes the real difference. Biodegradable packaging makes no claim to benefit the soil. So there’s no reason to go to great lengths to do more than recycle as you usually do. Compostable packaging requires composting conditions for it to impart benefits to the soil. If you don’t compost, the benefits of compostable packaging are largely lost.

This month, at Out Of This World we have launched our new range of own brand composatable packaged products! We have worked shard to ensure that every aspect of the packaging is 100% biodegradable; from the bags, to the labels, even down to the sticky-tape. Come into store to check it out!

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