One benefit of bioplastics is their ability to be composted. Bioplastic food packaging has the additional potential to help capture the 30.8 million tons of food waste now landfilled or incinerated [US EPA, 2006 data]. Little data is available on how bioplastics can best be labeled and collected for composting, who is composting bioplastics, and what their experience has been. By documenting existing practices and lessons learned, we hope bioplastic composting will leap from the early adopters to the early majority.
Also, check out FAQs: Why Choose Compostable Products for Food Service.
We have identified more than 20 venues, communities, or corporations utilizing and composting at least one type of bioplastic product.
Below we present initial data on some of these venues:
- California: California State University Of Monterey Bay (CSUMB) Composting Pilot
- California: San Francisco
- California: University of California-SF Medical Center
- Colorado: A1 Organics
- Colorado: Eco-Cycle’s Zero Waste Farmers’ Market
- District of Columbia: Green Festival
- District of Columbia: USDA Whitten Cafeteria Composting Pilot
- Georgia: Affairs to Remember Caterers
- Georgia: Georgia World Congress Center
- Maine: Bowdoin College
- Maine: Colby College’s Composting Program
- Maine: College of the Atlantic
- Maine: MOFGA’s Common Ground Country Fair
- Maine: New England Organics – Hawk Ridge Compost Facility
- Oregon: Rose Garden Stadium (Portland Trailbplazers)
- Washington: Safeco Stadium (Seattle Mariners)
- Washington: Seattle’s Cedar Grove Composting Facility