I have a lot of customers that ask me if a food packaging item is “compostable”.  Usually an item that is compostable is made out of PLA (such as Fabrikal’s Greenware cups).  PLA is also known as the plastic that is made out of corn.  While this is a more eco friendly option than an item made out of polystyrene or polypropylene (used mostly for microwaveable containers), it is not as environmentally friendly a package as an item made of recycled PET.  One issue about PLA is that it takes an incredible amount of fossil fuel based energy to farm and harvest the corn (which is usually a GMO corn).  Another issue that I find particularly disturbing about PLA based compostable products, is that these items are only compostable in a commercial composting facility!  The problem is that most food service operators do not sort their compostable packaging items, nor do they use a carting company that commercially composts.  Obviously, if you are a foodservice operator that uses Action Carting or another commercial composting carting company, then you are being very eco friendly using a compostable PLA item, or compostable food starch based cutlery.  The other issue with PLA products is what happens to these PLA products when they leave your store?  They end up in a public garbage bin.  When this happens, not only are these PLA items not composted, but they end up contaminating the recycling stream because most recycling facilities cannot differentiate between a PLA plastic item or a PET (think soda bottle plastic) item.  PET on the other hand is the most commonly and most easily recycled plastic.

Nowadays, many manufacturers use quite a bit of post consumer recycled content, in addition to post industrial content in producing their foodservice packaging items.  Most paper bags, paper shopping bags, napkins, some disposable food containers and a clear cup line are now made of post consumer recycled content.  Not only are these items already made of recycled content, but they can be easily recycled again and again, being reborn in different products and removing a lot of waste from entering a landfill.  It is also less energy intensive to recycle than to create a PLA based product.  One other advantage of recycled content options, is that there are many options for recycling products than there are commercial composting facilities.  Every home nowadays, has a recycling bin for example.  For these reasons, it is my belief that recycled content based disposable packaging is the better option if you want your food concept to be as eco friendly as possible.

Oh yeah – 1 last advantage of recycled content food packaging vs PLA plastic based packaging: it is usually much more affordable for you, the foodservice operator!

If you are interested in any additional information on making your food concept as eco friendly as possible, please contact me! My expertise is ECO FRIENDLY PACKAGING!