No, our products are not edible. They are FDA approved for food contact, but are not considered edible/digestible. Even though many of our products are derived from plants, they are plastic and should not be eaten.

This is a great question with a complex answer! How long it takes something to break down depends on what kind of material it is (e.g., a piece of paper breaks down much more quickly than a corn cob), what kind of composting technology is used (e.g., a backyard pile overseen by a gardener is very different than a commercial facility with millions of dollars in equipment to manage moisture and temperature), and what climate you’re in (e.g., the dry Arizona desert is very different than the humid Pacific Northwest). Most of the compostable products Novolex makes are designed to be composted in commercial facilities, where temperature, moisture, oxygen, and other factors can be carefully monitored. The Biodegradable Products Institute certifies many of our products, and the testing upon which that certification is based allows up to 180 days for biodegradation to occur. However, given the number of variables involved, in reality there is a wide range of time in which compostable products to break down. Some composters have successfully composted packaging in as little as 45 – 60 days. For more information on the composting process, check out this video by Eco-Products: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_27lJ3NQO4&t=3s

We recommend disposing of PLA products in a commercial compost facility where they can be broken down, turned into compost and then returned to the soil. Home composting typically does not create the consistent composting conditions needed for our products, but commercial facilities can manage just fine.

Commercial compost facilities are expanding around the country and there may be one in your area. To find a compost facility near you, please visit the US EPA website or check out Find A Composter

For disposal, naturally we recommend composting if it’s available, but if not, please dispose of all foodservice items responsibly. Even if these items head to the landfill, this is preferred to leaving items to escape as litter into the environment. There is still an important environmental benefit to choosing Eco-Products items over traditional foam or plastic items that contain no recycled content or renewable materials.

In short, probably not. Here’s why: We have 2 lines of products; our items that are made with renewable resources and our items that are made with recycled content materials. Not all of these materials can be recycled most places in the US.

Most of our items are compostable. So when you are done with these renewable items, like PLA (a plant-based plastic) products, they can be disposed of in a commercial compost facility instead of the landfill. Here they are retuned to the soil as compost.

Our items are made from post-consumer recycled PET plastic, polystyrene or fiber, so we are excited to give a second (or third) life to these materials. Unfortunately, it can be hard for some recycling facilities to capture these items – instead, their environmental benefit lies in their front end materials. For these items, please dispose of them responsibly and only recycle them if they are accepted.

Coming soon! There are some regions where #1 PET recycling has expanded and you can put our PET items in the recycling bin. It’s not everywhere yet, but hopefully one day soon. We encourage you to check with your local municipality or materials recovered facility (MRF for short) to see if they are accepted and if not, to learn when they will be.

Note: It can be tricky to tell the difference between a clear PLA cup and a nearly identical cup made from petroleum-derived plastic like PET or even recycled PET. Check out the resin identification number on the bottom of the cup – PLA cups are labeled with #7 and PET cups are #1.

Recycling facilities can have problems with PLA items, so it is important to separate compostables from recyclables into “clean” waste streams. Because PLA and PET mix about as well as oil and water, recyclers consider PLA a contaminant and compost facilities have a hard time cleaning it out of the compost.

In a capped landfill (the most common type of landfill in the US), our products and most plastics will remain stable and not be a significant contributor to methane emissions as far as we know. Compostable PLA plastic breaks down in aerobic composting scenarios best, and composting is not a significant source of methane. Composting is a specific aerobic (oxygen rich) process which occurs in compost piles only, not inside sealed anaerobic (oxygen deprived) landfills. Other bioplastics have shown different results in landfills, and some bioplastics are being engineered to behave differently in landfills. Eco-Products uses PLA plastic exclusively in our compostable products, and it is tested and clearly marked for commercial compost.

Methane in landfills results from organic materials that end up in anaerobic (air-locked or capped) landfills and are deprived of oxygen and micro-organisms. Over long periods of time, organic material slowly degrades anaerobically resulting in the creation of methane gas. Methane gas is more harmful to the atmosphere than CO2 over its lifetime. Landfills are the second largest source of man-made methane emissions in the US, and much of this is attributed to the long legacy of organic matter anaerobically decomposing in the landfill and making methane gas. This is why it is more important than ever to keep as much organic matter like food scraps, yard waste, and agricultural waste out of the landfill. Plastics are generally stable in the landfill, and things like foam will stick around for a very long time – we are not sure when they will ever really break down.

Our compostable items meet the ASTM standards for compostability. They are certified to meet these standards by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) which uses scientifically based standards to determine if a product is compostable in a commercial facility. Products cannot contain the BPI logo unless they have been officially certified. So look for the words “BPI Certified” and you can be confident that your product will break down in a commercial facility.