General Question

Strauss's avatar

Will the new corn-based "plastic" decompose in a compost?

Asked by Strauss (23813points) April 19th, 2009

I recently bought something the natural grocery store, and it had a plastic-like seal on the top. The seal stated that the plastic like material was made from corn. Will this break down in a compost?

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3 Answers

gailcalled's avatar

Try one or two, and report back.

mattbrowne's avatar

Yes, but it will still take a while. Organic plastics can be produced using renewable biomass sources, such as vegetable oil, corn starch and pea starch, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioplastic

Bioplastics are used in Europe, where they account for 60% of the biodegradable materials market. The most common end use market is for packaging materials.

phil196662's avatar

With any composting environment the smaller it is the faster it composts, Grind it or even Blend it into a soup!

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