Will the new corn-based "plastic" decompose in a compost?

Asked by Strauss (23624

) April 19th, 2009

I recently bought something the natural grocery store, and it had a plastic-like seal on the top. The seal stated that the plastic like material was made from corn. Will this break down in a compost?

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3 Answers

Try one or two, and report back.

gailcalled (54644

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Yes, but it will still take a while. Organic plastics can be produced using renewable biomass sources, such as vegetable oil, corn starch and pea starch, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioplastic

Bioplastics are used in Europe, where they account for 60% of the biodegradable materials market. The most common end use market is for packaging materials.

mattbrowne (31732

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