Are EcoEnclose products compostable?Updated a month ago
In general, EcoEnclose prioritizes designing for recyclability. Recycling is the most materially-efficient way to keep existing materials circulating, extending the useful life of the raw materials and resources that went into their production, and reducing the need for natural resources to be otherwise extracted for new items.
Many of our products are technically compostable - i.e. our entire paper line - however, we typically recommend that they are marketed as recyclable (versus compostable)
Additionally, we are bringing to market a Sway poly bag that is compostable. Our commitment to the material is due to its regenerative inputs rather than its end of life. The reality is that novel materials cannot typically be recyclable (even if they are technically recyclable) because they don't have the scale / adoption levels for it
We recommend brands avoid many common compostable bioplastics - such as PLA
For more information and nuance, continue reading below!
According to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), for a material or product to be considered to be "Compostable," the product must:
Break down to carbon dioxide, water, inorganic compounds, and biomass at a rate similar to paper
Disintegrate into small pieces within 90 days so that the original product is not visually distinguishable in the compost, and
Leave no toxic residue.
Compostable materials are meant to be an ecologically net-positive waste stream for organic waste: creating high-quality compost. There is a difference between compostable and biodegradable. “Biodegradable” is a matter of ability to degrade biologically, whereas “compostable” is a matter of ability to produce high-quality soil and soil-amendments. From this perspective, very few packaging materials currently on the market achieve this lofty goal. What does achieve this goal is materials like food waste, organics waste, and yard trimmings. Learn more about the differences between biodegradable and compostable packaging in this blog post.
For this reason, you will notice that we purposefully do not market the vast majority of our paper packaging as “compostable”, since they are unlikely to produce high quality compost. Instead, we choose to use the more accurate and honest description- “naturally biodegradable” for such products.
As of September 2024, the only exception to this rule is our Sway Seaweed Polybags, which are designed to be home or industrially composted.
Many of EcoEnclose's products are made with recycled paper, making them naturally biodegradable.
Though these paper products are naturally biodegradable, they are also recyclable, and we highly recommend that they be recycled versus composted. The only instance in which we recommend composting over recycling is if paper packaging has a high volume of food grease or residue. Recycling is generally preferred to composting, which is higher on the sustainable waste management hierarchy. If you or your customers plan to compost paper packaging, we recommend first removing adhesives, labels, and tape.
Our recycled plastic products (Poly Mailers, Bubble Mailers, Polybags, Pouches, Pallet Wrap, and more.) are not compostable or biodegradable. They are made with traditional (petroleum-based) recycled plastic, and we take great pride in using as much recycled content, and post-consumer waste, as possible. These products should be recycled in thin-film (#2 and #4 plastic) drop-offs, or landfilled. Check the product’s webpage or its on-product labeling for the correct disposal instructions.
If you're looking for compostable packaging, read our compostable packaging guide.