![]() They are constructed of nutrient-rich components that, when broken down, leave nothing but natural material behind. Out of the three options, compostable bags are the best. Degradable vs Biodegradable vs Compostable Bags – Which is best? If the compostable plastic bags you buy are not suitable for home composting then they would need to go to a special council compositing site of which there aren’t that many. The main problem with some compostable plastic bags is that as with biodegradable plastic bags they need certain environmental conditions for the composting process to occur.įor some bags, this means that you cannot simply toss the plastic bag onto your compost heap at home unless they are specifically made for home composting. All the material in the bag will simply return to the earth however there are still issues with compostable plastic bags. Made from 100% organic material such as plant starch these types of plastic bags do not leave behind any hazardous byproducts. High temperature, UV and oxygen are the main ones all of which may not necessarily exist where the bag is discarded. So although these bags will break down much quicker than degradable plastic bags one of the key issues is that to do so they need to be exposed to specific environmental conditions. ![]() Biodegradableįrom their name, Biodegradable plastic bags sound great however there are a few things we should know before we start to use them.īiodegradable plastic bags are generally made from plant-based material such as corn or wheat starch and they have specific additives added to promote the discarded bag to break down. Now seen across the world, microplastics are passed from animal to animal through the natural food chain where microplastics have even been found in humans.īest to avoid these types of bags but if you can’t don’t just discard them thinking they will degrade, make sure they are properly disposed of. There’s a huge amount of information on the internet about microplastics so I won’t go into detail here but needless to say that once consumed, they are incredibly dangerous to all types of animals. However, the issue here is that they break down into hundreds if not thousands of small pieces of plastic which we now refer to as microplastics. These types of plastic bags do degrade and so when we think about bags staying around for hundreds of years, with the right treatment and conditions degradable bags will actually break down. ![]() DegradableĪlthough the word degradable seems like it should be good for the environment we should try to avoid degradable plastic bags wherever possible. The first thing I found was that there are a few different types of garbage bags that could be suitable, compostable, biodegradable, and then there’s degradable. What is the Difference Between Degradable, Biodegradable and Compostable Bags So let’s get into the detail of what I discovered but before we do if you are interested in compostable garden waste bags then you may want to read my article “ Compostable Bags for the Green Bin – Should You Use Them?” next. These conditions are rarely seen in the natural environment and so most biodegradable plastic bags that are discarded will not degrade for years to come. So I did some research.īiodegradable garbage bags are biodegradable however they need specific environmental conditions to degrade quickly. Having bought some biodegradable rubbish bags from a local store, when I took the first one out I wondered whether biodegradable garbage bags really are…. Recently I’ve been trying to focus on de-cluttering my home and whilst we must all aim to reuse and repurpose there were items that just weren’t fit for a new life. ![]()
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