Sceptical composting

It's great that people are trying to use less plastic. But not all endeavours are without their own challenges. In the past years, I've been getting an increasing number of bags that looks like they are plastic, but that claim they are compostable. 

If they are the potato starch bags from the WholeFoods Co-op, I shred them and put them in the food bin. But I only just about produce enough food waste to accommodate that. And then there the other bags in which you can buy things like vegetables or clothes or coffee. No way these fit in too! So what to do with them? 

They are compostable, but does that mean you can home-compost them? Or do you need an industrial composter for that? And if you do, doesn’t that render the entire concept futile? Nobody has one of those, and no council collects compostable-in-industrial-composters waste. 

Maybe, though, you can actually compost them just like you would compost garden waste. I have a compost heap; I can at least give it a chance. So I shredded a pile of these bags and mixed them into the weeds and grass clippings that make up my heap. 

The bags

They’re in there now! 

I must admit I am sceptical at how successful this will be! I could easily imagine that the next time I turn this thing over, I will come across all these pieces in pretty much the same shape they have now. But I won’t know until I try. 

So what if it doesn’t work? Maybe I’ll have to pull them out again and burn them. Sounds tedious! But I’m not sure what else to do. And as well. If it doesn’t work, then what to do with future bags like that? I suppose there are two options: bin them or burn them. Binning them will have them slowly decompose in landfill: that creates greenhouse gases like methane, but a half-decent landfill will catch those. Burning them would create CO2, which is a weaker GHG, but it will go straight into the atmosphere. Which is worse? Not sure! 

I suppose this is a long term experiment. Compost isn’t made in a day. I should give it years! But then I’ll know. Although, of course, the materials evolve. I might be in it for the long run!