Biodegradable Waste - Organic Recycling

Biodegradable waste into nutrient rich fertilizers

Recycling is a partial sustainable solution as it involves high usage of energy and resources and hence a net environment cost. Furthermore, many of the products that we think are ‘recycled’ are actually ‘downcycled’.  For example a plastic milk carton can never be recycled into another carton but made into a lower-quality item like plastic lumber, which can’t be recycled again! And, even after recycling, we are still left with bags of trash. Each household produces about 1 tonne of rubbish annually, amounting to about 27 million tonnes for the UK each year.

Aside from the above, recycling is harassed with other problems:

• Less than 10% of recyclables plastic containers get to the recycling facility as this is dependent on customers’ behaviour patterns. They need to end in the right bin and not the garbage bag on the way to the landfill!
• Even if they do get to the recycling facility success of recycling depends on the facilities capability. Recyclable paper food containers can pose a challenge to the facility because of their polyethylene coating.
• The deposit return system (DRC) for single-use containers is only as good as the collection system for recycling in place. The increase use of kerbside recycling services, online shopping and home deliveries have posed a challenge to the DRC.
• There has been effort at the industry and government level to promote recycling and some success has been achieved, but the volumes of collection materials required by the recycler have still not been achieved.

In the light of recent report of recycling rates falling for the first time in England from 44.8% in 2014 to 43.9% in 2015, one wonders how sustainable is this, one of the main eco-friendly ways of dealing with waste. Have we reached the peak of our effort with this sustainable effort?

No doubt, recycling helps the environment, if done correctly and the momentum is maintained.  The reality is that the survival of the recycling movement depends on continual subsidies, sermons and policing. Furthermore, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation recycling is an ‘outer circle’ of the circular economy and requires more energy input than the ‘inner cycle’ of repair, reuse and remanufacture.

Organic Recycling with Biodegradable Foodware

If recycling is defined is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects with the aim of extracting the maximum practical benefits from products and to generate the minimum amount of waste, then biodegradable products are a viable sustainable alternatives.     

A biodegradable product that breaks down quickly and results in a by-product that is rich in minerals and reduces the need for chemical fertilizers and hence is ideal for gardening and farming.

Unlike the so called ‘recyclable’ foodware that cannot be recycled when they are contaminate with food scraps, biodegradable foodware can be disposed off as green waste  to disintegrate into rich, non-toxic humus for use as fertilizers.

Biodegradable disposables, especially for food packaging, have increasing been used in response for the need to make our waste more eco-friendly.

Element 100% biodegradable disposable tableware:

• meets industry certification including OK Biobased by Vincotte and ASTM D6400 and D6866;
• is made from Origo - a starch based bio-plastic made primarily from up to 70% of corn and yam and 30% - pp (polypropylene) pallets for water proofing and heat resistance qualities. When micro-organism ingests and digests the starch aspect of the product, the polypropylene (PP) content in origo that is assimilated with the corn is fully broken down into compost after 90 days even if it lands in the landfill and produces a non-toxic humus waste that can be used as fertilizers.
• is 72% more carbon efficient than traditional plastics, such polystyrene in the production process;
• is carbon neutral;
• non-toxic;
• microwaveable and freezable;
• strong and durable and
• can be reused up to three times

The added bonus is that Element:

• comes in twelve vibrant and fashionable colours to suit your taste and needs
• is competitively priced to normal plastics and cheaper than most biodegradable and compostable products.