Paper Bags

Easier to Recycle
Less Hazardous To The Wildlife
Renewable Material

Plastic Bags

Less Freight Cost
Less Engery to Produce
Less Water Pollution
Less Air Pollution

Informed Decision Making

Before you react and spend time searching for a compostable bag, some important questions to consider. First, does the community where these bags are to be used have a composting collection program. If not, then these bags will end up in a land fill and react just like regular plastic bags. Also, since compostable bags release Carbon Dioxide and Methane during the breakdown process, there may be “greenhouse gas” emissions issues. Both Carbon Dioxide and Methane are “greenhouse gases” and targeted for emissions reduction. Also, fossil fuels are needed in the harvesting and production of these compostable products. Which are worse, using more fossil fuels, or putting plastic bags into a landfill?

Green Glossary:

Reduce: Use less of, or make smaller.

Re-use: Use again, at least once.

Recycle: Returning a product for reprocessing into another type of product which would use the components of the original product in its makeup. This is not remaking the old product into “a like new” product.

Bioplastics: These are categories of compostable, biodegradable, and degradable plastics.

Degradable: Materials that have the capability to break down from a whole into parts or completely break down into natural substances in the normal process of exposure to natural events. Most degradable products are either biodegradable or photodegradable.

Biodegradable: Materials capable of undergoing biological anaerobic or aerobic decomposition by the action of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and algae under conditions naturally occurring in the biosphere.

Compostable: Materials that undergo degradation by biological process during composting to yield CO2, water, inorganic compounds and biomass at a rate consistent with other compostable materials in commercial/industrial composting conditions and leave no visible, distinguishable or toxic residue. These bags are made of PLA, which is Polylactic Acid, and obtained from renewable sources like corn, sugar beets, wheat, and other starch-rich products. In order for a bag to be considered compostable, it must biodegrade at the same rate as grass clippings, must disintegrate so no large particles can be screened out, and must biodegrade safely so that it can support plant growth.

Oxo-degradable: Materials that undergo degradation via a multiple stage process using a chemical additive to initiate the degradation, which may be triggered by Ultra-Violet (UV) sunlight, heat and/or mechanical stress with remnants then going through bio-degradation over time.