• Kalkaline @leminal.space
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    4 months ago

    Certainly not in your home composter. You need heat >~145F for extended periods, your typical home composter only hits those temps for a short period of time because of how small they are. I’ve seen anecdotal home experiments on those really loud Sun Chip bags that are supposed to be compostable and they last for 1-2 years in home composters.

    • Nighed@sffa.community
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      12
      ·
      4 months ago

      I thought this was meant to be the difference between biodegradable and compostable?

      Biodegradable will degrade in an industrial composter, compostable will do so in the compost bin in your back garden.

      Pay/reg walled from the article so didn’t actually read it…

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      I put a “compostable” plastic cup in my home composter once and watched it go round and round through the thing over and over again for years, still virginal in its plastic cup shape with everything else decaying around it into dirt

      I have no way of knowing whether my composter was unable to achieve the right conditions or the claim was just a bunch of shit, but I know which is my feeling

    • variants
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      4 months ago

      What is this ‘home composter’ you speak of? Like a bin with soil and worms?

      • reddig33@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        4 months ago

        Probably something like this:

        https://lomi.com/

        The reviews I’ve seen on YouTube show it breaking down biodegradable plastic. So I guess it makes a difference which electric composter you buy.

        If your city has curbside composting, I bet the straws would do just fine. And I’m sure they degrade better than petroleum plastics in the landfill. “Don’t make perfect the enemy of good.”

        • variants
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          4 months ago

          Wow I had no idea such a thing existed. We do have city compost pickup but I’ve been wanting to make a worm compost bin just haven’t looked into it