Traci, at this time I do not have an exact answer for you but starting late-Jaunary 2010 we will be working with Altanta Christian Schools with our product.  They will be converting from durables to compostables completely (straws, plates, cutlery, etc...).  So their food waste & these compostable items will be able to go in our Orca Machines.  The only item they will have to discard is the milk carton since its polycoated (there are alternatives here but costly).  This case study I think will benefit everyone wanting to convert as you discribed above and am anxious to share the results.  Stay tuned and please note our website & my personal email...

In the meantime you can see a video on our site showing the food & compostables in the Orca Machine.  The plastic bottles you see are made of PLA and the plates are Begasse.

Thanks!

Ryan Casey
ryan@orcagreen.net
www.orcagreen.net

Hey Traci,

I'd recommend a two-part story that ran in the July and September issues of Biocycle if you haven't already seen it. The two-part story was on the sustainability of compostable products. Starting in their July 2009 issue "Compostable Products Go mainstream" followed by a September 2009 article "What's in a Resin? Sustainability of Compostable Products".

What was really neat about these articles was they investigated a number of factors that should be considered when investigating the use of compostables including the sources of the raw materials being used, the energy consumed during manufacturing, and if the products are actually being captured for composting. They looked at the companies that produce the raw materials for the products and provided some case studies.

Is there a reason your campus is not composting currently? I see that the PCC Rock Creek Campus is doing vermicomposting.  Compostable products in the food industry seem to make sense when they are helping to divert food waste to be composted. We have an AASHE resource list of campus composting websites in case it is of interest too - http://www.aashe.org/resources/campus-composting-programs.php

A few factors to take into account in thinking about switching to reusable's would be the infrastructure that would need to be built (could be expensive up frontcosts) for washers, conveyor belts, etc. There may be additional staff capacity that would be needed as well, and of course water usage and energy to heat the water. This article from our friends at NACUBO may also be of help, "Compostable or Reusable" .

    Does anyone know of brand of compostable utensils that compost at 190-200 degrees?  For the compost site that we  use, that is the temperature range they normally use for their compost.   Most of the compostable utensils I have seen don't compost until 240-270 degrees.

Chris

 Hi Chris,

I'm not sure if you found an answer to your question yet but I'm working with a new company called EcoVision Technologies that will be distributing dining ware products that should meet your specs.  Our compostable line is designed to break down no matter the temperature so even a backyard compost will work.  The break down time line will extend though with lower temps.

I don't want to interrupt your discussion board with a sales pitch, really I'm hear to learn as much as I can about universities and sustainability.  Feel free to contact me though if you would like more information.  The EcoVision web site is not up yet but the products we are selling are shown at m-passinc.com (click on the Nviroplast Sustainable Packaging tab).

Thanks,

Tricia

Utensils that claim to be compostable can back up that claim by being certified as compostable by the Biodegradable Products Institute.  In Seattle, we have a composting facility in Cedar Grove that runs actual tests of products to ensure they break down. If the products do not breakdown in less than 60 days in a commercial composting facility, they are not approved.

We use a cutlery that has been approved that can handle temperatures up to 160 degrees before losing their rigidity.

We expect a new wave of cutlery to be coming out this year using CPLA (Crystalized Polylactide). There are already hot cup lids on the market that are using this material.

Micheal

University of washington

Slightly related to this post -- we are considering switching from compostable containers to recycled content/recyclable containers. The reason behind this is a little complex, but the idea is that because we are currently not composting, our compostable take out containers are not being composted; they're entering the waste stream. If we could switch to appropriate containers of recycled content that are also recyclable, we may be able to recycle them in our single-stream system and cut down on waste. What I have discovered so far, is nobody is making the switch to recycled content/recyclable containers, everyone is moving to compostable containers. Is there any research out there that compares compostable containers vs. recycled containers? Has anyone else considered this issue? Thank you