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compostable chip bag
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Author:  produce guy [ Wed Mar 17, 2010 11:00 pm ]
Post subject:  compostable chip bag

Wife brought home some F.L. SunChips and the bag sides that you can put it your compost pile when your done and it will desolve or turn into compost in 3-6 months.I think that's really neat and it's a start.

Author:  northwesterner [ Fri Apr 02, 2010 9:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: compostable chip bag

Where do you get those? What state are you in? Thanks!

Author:  mskitty42 [ Sat Apr 03, 2010 8:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: compostable chip bag

We have them in Georgia, at Kroger. Haven't tried them yet, but love the idea!

Author:  Garon [ Sun Apr 04, 2010 6:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: compostable chip bag

We buy them at HEB in San Antonio. The kids think it's pretty cool, especially when the bag "crackles" very loud (you'll know what I mean if you purchase one). :lol:

Author:  produce guy [ Sat May 22, 2010 6:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: compostable chip bag

Well it's been 2months now since I put the bag in the compost heap and it hasn't done anything yet,I put another one in and cut it with sissors to see if it would breakdown any faster.
I bought these SunChips at HEB here in Austin. :twisted:

Author:  northwesterner [ Sat May 22, 2010 9:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: compostable chip bag

I bet this kind of paper would benefit from a quick trip through a standard or a cross cut shredder, don't you? Actually, all of the paper that goes through the shredder could go into the compost. Newspaper also (unshredded). But as others have commented elsewhere, a "higher use" would be to recycle back into paper, before deciding to compost it. Stuff you don't want in the curbside trash might be best shredded then decomposed in the compost.

Author:  mskitty42 [ Mon May 24, 2010 2:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: compostable chip bag

I finally bought my first bag of these, and just for giggles checked their website about the composting. It's not a fast process. Here's what they have to say about it:

"Keys to Successful Hot, Active Composting
Composting generates heat as a by-product. The temperature and rate of degradation will vary depending on how you maintain your compost pile. The hotter the temperature of your compost pile, the faster the materials in your pile will decompose. The SunChips® compostable bag will break down in about 14 weeks if the compost temperature is maintained above ~130°F. If your compost pile does not get that hot, it’s OK. The SunChips® compostable bag will still break down, it will just take longer."

I'm pretty sure my compost isn't that hot, so it'll be interesting to see how long this will take.

Author:  user_48634 [ Tue Jun 08, 2010 9:40 am ]
Post subject:  Re: compostable chip bag

I don't think even Garden-Ville can maintain 130 for 14 weeks continuous. Sounds like a marketing scheme to me. The plastic bags they are seeking to ban in some states will turn to dust faster than that when left out in the sunlight.

Author:  northwesterner [ Sun Aug 15, 2010 10:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: compostable chip bag

I found a very interesting article in my hometown newspaper this weekend. There is a large composting company called Cedar Grove Composting in Everett, Washington, that is researching just how compostable these various new packaging materials are and certifying the ones that past their testing.

Here's the company: http://www.cedar-grove.com/

Here's the article: http://bit.ly/9Gksbp

I shortened the URL because it is quite lengthy, but if they change the address of this page over time, you can search on it by the title and such. This was published August 15, 2010 in the Herald (http://www.heraldnet.com) and the article is by Sarah Jackson. It's quite thorough and has several links (good links - including info about that Sun Chips bag, which has certification from Cedar Grove) and a link to the "Seven Sins of Greenwashing," among others).

Here are the first few paragraphs. It's a fairly long article:

Quote:
What packaging is compostable? It's complicated

Package labels can be confusing. Here's what you should know.

By Sarah Jackson, Herald Writer

Compostable is the new organic.

It's a word increasingly showing up on food and beverage packaging.

Disposable cups, take-out containers, throw-away cutlery and potato chip bags emblazoned with the word are trickling into restaurants, grocery stores and coffee shops.

It means the material in question will biodegrade or break down into compost, a valuable, mulchlike material that gardeners use to improve soil and stop weed growth.

But, in an age of businesses eager to promote an eco-friendly image, the definition of compostable is changing quickly and causing widespread confusion.

If you think you can throw all compostable products in your backyard compost, think again.

Some compostable products will break down easily only if they make it to a commercial composting facility.

Others won't break down at all because they simply aren't made of the right materials, said Steve Mojo, the executive director of the New York-based Biodegradable Products Institute, which runs a national program that certifies compostables.

"There are many people out there that make claims that are, frankly, misleading," Mojo said.

Even legitimately compostable packaging materials can be perplexing to consumers because many of them look exactly like traditional plastic products.

In much of the new compostable packaging, traditional plastics are replaced with similar looking, but biodegradable, corn-based plastics.

And, some corn-based plastics have No. 7 recycling symbols printed on them. But they shouldn't go into your recycle bin with your soda bottles.

Confused?

You are not alone.

Avoiding the landfill

Compostable packaging is particularly hot right now in the Northwest thanks to a flurry of new laws banning expanded polystyrene foam, commonly referred to as Styrofoam.

Expanded polystyrene foam is a petroleum product. It is reviled by environmentalists because it does not biodegrade. It breaks into tinier and tinier pieces in landfills and at sea.


Read the rest on the Herald website. I saved a copy as PDF if somehow this goes away, or if you would like to put it somewhere in the Dirt Doctor site.

Author:  Garon [ Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: compostable chip bag

Since this was brought back to the top, I'll add my experience with the composting bag (see my post in this thread from April). Well, the bag has not composted one bit and it is submerged in a very healthy and active compost pile. Matter of fact, I see it periodically when I am turning my compost and it looks as new as it was the day I put it there. :?

Author:  mskitty42 [ Wed Aug 18, 2010 4:11 am ]
Post subject:  Re: compostable chip bag

I've had the same experience -- every time I turn my pile, there it is, not looking much, if any, different than when I put it in.

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