Biodegradable vs. Recyclable: Which is the Better Packaging Solution?

As landfill space gats smaller and more expensive recycling and PLA's will become the more economical solution. Unfortunately, that just means that things will get worse bofore they get better. I suppose the government could find a way to artificially inflate the cost of trash removal by taxing the heck out of it, but most of the voting public would be very unhappy and no longer vote for those candidates.

I have to confess that I am a huge fan of TerraCycle.

I fall on the recyclable side of this -- biodegradable still treats packcaging as a "waste" issue rather than as a resource. Some of that comes from treating packaging as something distinct from the product - the whole should be designed as one integral unit with different parts.

P.S. Thank you for my beloved banana leaf paper.

Personally, I design packaging that people will want to reuse, and make it easy by not adhering labels wherever possible. It's a little more difficult, and a little more expensive, but it's a fun challenge - the trick really is to think of product and container at the same time - not product, then "what do we put it in to ship and sell?"

I think it bears out that some of the companies that have made themselves responsible for taking back products when a person is "done" with it are ahead of the game (FLOR, 3-Form, etc.), and doing well.

Recycling requires less energy and water input than producing plant matter to make biodegradable/compostable stuff.

Also, look carefully at your bioplastics- they are recyclable, too (but be sure you know what numbers of plastic your area takes).

I seem to remember, though, that after beign recycled a number of times, materials gradually degrade.

So the best solution is to recycle everything, but make it biodegradable so that when it can no longer be recycle, it can be safely (and usefully) disposed of. Granted, this would require you (or the recycling plant) to know (either by labeling or otherwise) how degraded materials they receive are, and to sort them accordingly.

Yes, you are too far ahead of the mainstream with biodegradable. And in my opinion, it is not true to the idea of 'unconsuming'.

Recycleable, with all its quirks and ticks, is still the common sense, dumbed down, easy to implement way to go for the masses world wide.

Can recycleable packages be made better? How can recycled packaging be made with sustainable materials (ie paper, or even that PLA up there). Muddles up the definitions a bit, yes, and confuses even me.

OK, I am not an expert, just a (sort of) lowly person working in the solid waste industry a little.

I lean more towards recycling. Any paper packaging that is biodegradable gets shredded by hand and put in my compost.

I don' buy products with packaging that can't be. Then again, I rarely by products that have packaging anyway, as I mostly shop with my local farmers market where I bring my own bags, I reuse my egg cartons and get the egg farmer to fill up the carton.

I return my milk cartons to the milk farmer and everything else is fruit and veg, which has no packaging.

SteveC

REUSABLE PACKAGING.

standard sizing so multiple brands/retailers can be interchangeable.

same principle as having a nalgene, and if you are stuck in a rut and have to have a disposable package, it should cost way more (bottled water should cost more).

how you turn it around, i have no idea.

i think that more jars should be reusable as cups. i've seen a few brands of polish mustard like this. there wouldn't be any reason to go out and buy cups if this was widely done. it would be nice to see competition between manufacturers in making beautiful cups.

You don't necessarily have to use plants that were specifically grown to make disposable packaging. There is often an opportunity for upcycling plant material used in food production.

For example, my client, StalkMarket, makes a whole range of single-use tableware and food packaging products out of a sugarcane-based paperboard called bagasse. The sugarcane stalks used to make the bagasse are not grown specifically for this purpose. They are collected from sugar refineries and are essentially (food grade) waste products.

These products also don't need to go to a commercial compost facility. They can be put in to a home composter or even burried in a garden heap or flower bed.

What's more, using sugarcane stalks this way prevents them from being burnned in the fields -- which is one of the ways they have traditionally been destroyed. Ultimately, we are going to need to find more solutions like this that solve numerous problems at once.

StalkMarket also makes a line of PLA products (which do need to be commercially composted). Most people agree that PLA isn't a perfect solution, but it is far better than oil-based plastic.

Recycling is important. However, when you are talking about products that come in to contact with food, there are some serious limitations -- and for good reason. In order to use recycled paper in products like these, a plastic barrier is needed, which creates one problem while solving another. That's why we have called Starbuck's use of cups made out of 10% post-consumer recycled paper greenwashing.

There are a lot of good posts about topics like these on the StalkMarket blog, http://blog.stalkmarketproducts.com. You can learn more about StalkMarket at www.stalkmarketproducts.com

Please can someone tell me why reusable packaging is fast disappearing? I agree with the comment that says that biodegradable packaging still treats packaging as a 'waste" issue rather than a resource.
We really should be trying to re-fill containers where many of the goods we purchase, from detergent to shampoos, can be re-filled. Supermarkets would have to retrofit to having large vats where you can take your old container with you and fill up with the desired product.
As far as food and beverage containers go, surely these could be cleaned (and the water itself purified on site through reed bed filtration to be re-used over and over) and then re-filled. In SA, we still have some cooldrinks like Coke and FAnta, available in glass bottles for which you pay a deposit. These get cleaned and re-filled 15 to 20 times before being recycled. But they also appear to be on the way out

Not all compostable packaging is made from plants specifically grown for that purpose. For example, my client, StalkMarket, makes single-use tableware and food packaging from sugarcane stalks that have been recovered from sugar refineries.

Basically, they upcycle a (food grade) waste product that would otherwise be thrown away or burnned in a field.

These compostables don't need to be composted commercially. they can be home composted or even placed in a garden heap or flower bed.

Also, regarding recycling, when it comes to food service items, there are some serious limitations to what can be used. This is a very good thing.

This issue is addressed in more detail here http://blog.stalkmarketproducts.com/2008/10/14/starbucks-impact.aspx

Is this necessarily an either/or? Depending on what you are packaging, different materials may be better, or necessary.

Going a step further - step back and question what packaging is necessary in the first place. Oversized blisterpacks are unnecessary and unsustainable - whether poly or bio plastic. Clothing does not need to be in a plastic bag. A small fiber-based tag is fine. Retailers can/should offer bulk bin staple foods. Etc.

As Tom notes, we are limited by reclamation infrastructure. Seems most wise to maximize recycling infrastructure, as that is in place but has many gaps, while we develop composting infrastructure - essential to reclaim the food and yard waste being landfilled now.

Biofilms are essentially landfill materials until we build composting infrastructure like San Fran and Boulder have. By the time that happens, ideally PLA will have been superceded by non-gmo, non-food bio-films that are home compostable (another shortcoming of PLA - it needs industrial composting).

Innovia films markets non-PLA cellulose biofilms made of waste from sustainable harvested wood and non-food materials but their use is limited as they lack barrier properties. PLA additives are needed for barrier properties, defeating the purpose.

Ultimately, we as consumers need to accept shared responsibility for packaging on items we wish to purchase. We buy a lot of things we simply don’t need, don’t always choose options with the most recyclable/recycled/reduced packaging and balk at paying a few cents more or giving up a little convenience for an environmentally preferable option.

We cannot sit around and silently sulk about corporations, or simply talk among ourselves and expect corporations to offer better/less packaging. We need to vote with our dollars and communicate what we want/don’t.

Of course, the relative impact of the packaging versus the product/service eco-impact differs widely - compare a TV versus a carrot, for example. Seems best to focus on the biggest impact - energy, packaging, etc.

Just finished reading a couple of great books, Cradle to Cradle and Garbage Land.....both interesting views. Our company ENSO Bottles is trying to take a step forward by offering PET bottles that will biodegrade. I just read that the recycling industry has improved recycling from 20% up to 26%. Admirable, but what will happen to all the recycled plastics once they have been recycled to the point it isn't useful anymore? It becomes a pile of toxic plastic. Wouldn't it be better if it was turned into something useful...like dirt? And wouldn't it be even better if these plastics were made from a biofuel......not from something we eat but something like alge that is used to produce biofuel which in turn is turned into biodegradable plastic?

Those wishing to learn more about oxo-biodegradable plastic products should visit our website at http://biogreenproducts.biz . We have posted a huge amount of information about oxo-biodegradable plastics, and supply many oxo-biodegradable plastic disposable products - wholesale only, I'm afraid. We supply garbage bags, t-shirt bags, water bottle preforms, deli containers and lids, produce bags, straws, and cutlery with zip-lock bags on the way. Oxo-biodegradable plastics are recycleable with conventional plastics. An oxo-biodegradable PET, bottle, gets recycled with conventional recycled PET bottles, as a '1' recycle category. -Tim Dunn

Hi,

We ran across your site and i have some ideas to share about “Biodegradable Packaging” it offers eco friendly, non toxic and sustainable products. This products design to decompose quickly, completely and safe without leaving any residues. Its 100% no harm to human and enviroment.

Thanks, we'll come back often.

Thanks again,

Oceans Green

Recycling really is wonderful if it is completed...the problem for many areas of the world is that less than 30% of materials are recycled...If we could produce then reuse 100% of what was produced there would be little need to continue producing the materials. As for PLA we use PLA for some of our products and really do like it. The cost is higher but because of the recycling problem feel that it is better to use something that is renewable and biodegradable. We are hopeful about the future of PLA and other biodegradable materials.