The Truth About Biodegradable Plastics in Household Waste

"100% Biodegradable" is plastered across modern packaging, but consumers are often misled by what this actually means when it comes time to throw it away.

Industrial vs. Home Composting

Most bioplastics (like PLA) require highly sustained temperatures—above 60 degrees Celsius—for weeks to break down. If you throw them in your garden compost bin, they will look exactly the same five years later. Worse, if you throw them into your standard plastic recycling bin, they can contaminate the entire batch of conventional PET recycling.

How to Dispose of Them

Bioplastics should strictly go into commercial food waste or specified organic bins (if accepted by your council) where they are taken to industrial in-vessel composters. We advocate heavily for replacing bioplastics entirely with truly circular materials like aluminium and glass.