truffledog wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 1:12 pm I tried to compost them "organic" and compostable plastic bags they are giving out in Italy. When I turned over the compost after 2 years they had barely decomposed.

YaTingPom wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:15 am Wow, that is actually a great initiative!
Top job.

I have a very dim view of all this eco BS that is prevalent here. These "biodegradable" food containers greenwashing is nonsense and it happens all over the world, it's ridiculous. There's a company in Cambodia that flogs this junk and it is no different to using styrofoam because it does not degrade in landfill and certainly not when it is lying on the ground, it just breaks down into smaller parts. They are often made of bio plastics and normal oil plastic (and not recycled either), but they conveniently forget to mention that.

Even the sugar cane waste (bagasse) is really bad for the environment as the land is cleared just for that purpose, and in fact it is the "waste" that is wanted to make this stuff. Plus of course the burning of the land after the season has finished.

Even recycled cardboard, which is probably the best eco product, is made with some new cardboard and all is imported. There is no home grown.

I see some businesses promoting the fact they use this stuff but only because they feel they need to to get business.

EmpatheticUnicorn wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 3:43 pm

YaTingPom wrote: ↑Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:15 am Wow, that is actually a great initiative!
Top job.

I have a very dim view of all this eco BS that is prevalent here. These "biodegradable" food containers greenwashing is nonsense and it happens all over the world, it's ridiculous. There's a company in Cambodia that flogs this junk and it is no different to using styrofoam because it does not degrade in landfill and certainly not when it is lying on the ground, it just breaks down into smaller parts. They are often made of bio plastics and normal oil plastic (and not recycled either), but they conveniently forget to mention that.

Even the sugar cane waste (bagasse) is really bad for the environment as the land is cleared just for that purpose, and in fact it is the "waste" that is wanted to make this stuff. Plus of course the burning of the land after the season has finished.

Even recycled cardboard, which is probably the best eco product, is made with some new cardboard and all is imported. There is no home grown.

I see some businesses promoting the fact they use this stuff but only because they feel they need to to get business.

How is the land cleared just for the bagasse? The bagasse is the waste product after processing the sugar, not the sugar cane itself. The fibrous material burnt in neat little piles everywhere next to sugarcane juice vendors is not waste? It would be completely not sensical to grow a field of sugar cane just for the bagasse.

Sugar cane refineries gasify the bagasse waste product in order to generate the electricity that runs the refinery and in some cases actually feeds excess electricity back into the grid to provide additional energy.

There are also several other applications for the bagasse waste including it acting as a catalyst in chemical reactions, concrete, ceramics, and more.