Should You Choose Compostable Products If They End Up in Landfills?
Examining the real impact of compostable packaging when most of it still ends up in a landfill.
Why the Popularity of Compostable Packaging?
In recent years, consumers and businesses have increasingly turned to compostable packaging in an effort to reduce environmental harm, specifically targeting the persistent problem of plastic waste. Supermarkets, cafes, and food chains now offer compostable straws, utensils, plates, bags, and containers, all marketed as greener solutions. The underlying belief is straightforward and compelling: if the packaging is compostable, it’s inherently less damaging to the environment because it will break down, unlike conventional plastics, which can linger for centuries.
Compostable Versus Biodegradable: Clearing Up Confusion
Before diving into the fate of compostable products, it’s essential to understand what the term actually means—and how it differs from biodegradable. While both suggest break-down-ability, compostable items are specifically engineered to degrade in a composting environment—one that is warm, moist, oxygen-rich, and full of microorganisms. Biodegradable, meanwhile, implies only that an item can break down over time, but makes no guarantees about byproducts, timeline, or environmental safety.
Compostable packaging usually has a certification mark (like the Biodegradable Products Institute, BPI, logo), which guarantees that it will decompose under specifically controlled industrial composting conditions, producing nutrient-rich compost without leaving toxic residue.
The Ideal Fate: What Happens in Composting Facilities
When compostable products reach a commercial composting facility, several things happen:
- High temperatures and active microbial action accelerate decomposition.
- The process is aerobic (with oxygen), minimizing methane gas formation.
- After a few weeks to several months, only water, carbon dioxide, and nutrient-rich material (compost) remain.
BPI-certified items can break down in about 12 weeks under optimal lab conditions, and often more rapidly in real-world facilities, especially in thermophilic windrow composting where triangular mounds reach high temperatures.
Landfills Are Not Composting Facilities
Far too often, compostable items do not reach the intended composting environment. Due to limited local composting infrastructure, contamination worries, and simple habits, the majority of these products are disposed of as regular trash—and thus landfilled. This disconnect poses a significant issue, as landfills function very differently from composters:
- Anaerobic conditions: Landfills are sealed and lack oxygen, so most biological breakdown happens slowly or not at all.
- Reduced microbial action: The microbes in landfills are not the same as those in composters, impeding decomposition.
- Methane generation: If biodegradable materials do degrade in a landfill, they often produce methane—a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide.
- No useful output: Even if breakdown occurs, it does not yield usable compost for soil enrichment.
What Actually Happens to Compostables in Landfills?
The fate of a compostable object in a landfill is complex and depends on both the material and the landfill’s engineering:
- Persistence: Many compostable products persist for years, decomposing only very slowly or not at all, because the necessary temperature, moisture, and oxygen are lacking.
- Partial breakdown: For some materials—especially bioplastics like PLA (polylactic acid)—the decomposition process, if it happens at all, can release methane. However, whether PLA actually breaks down in landfill conditions is debated. One study reports that PLA does anaerobically degrade to produce methane, while another found it hardly degrades at all.
What others are reading
The unpredictable behavior of these materials in landfills underlines the critical difference between designed biodegradability (in composters) and what happens in practice in large-scale waste management systems.
Why Compostable Packaging Is Still Marketed as Green
The environmental benefits of compostable packaging don’t just depend on end-of-life fate. The sourcing and manufacturing processes often use fewer fossil fuels and emit fewer greenhouse gases compared to traditional plastics. Key advantages include:
- Use of renewable resources like corn, sugarcane, or cellulose rather than petroleum.
- Lower greenhouse gas emissions during manufacture relative to conventional plastics.
- Reduced fossil fuel dependency.
In other words, even if landfilled and not truly composted, compostable packaging may still have a lighter environmental footprint than its plastic counterpart. However, the intended climate benefits—carbon cycling, soil enrichment, and landfill waste reduction—are only fully realized when the material is actually composted.
Why Most Compostables Still End Up in the Landfill
Despite growing consumer demand, most compostable packaging does not reach commercial composting facilities. The main reasons are:
- Limited Infrastructure: There is a scarcity of municipal industrial composting operations, which are necessary for processing many certified compostables.
- Stringent Facility Rules: Many facilities only accept food and yard waste (like leaves, trimmings, and uncoated paper), prohibiting compostable dishware and packaging. This is largely due to contamination concerns and differences in compostability standards.
- Inconsistent Consumer Messaging: Many “compostable” products offer little guidance about proper disposal, and some use terms (like “biodegradable” or “compostable in home composters”) that create confusion.
- Contamination Fears: Waste managers often worry that non-compostable items (especially plastics that look similar to compostables) will enter the system and spoil the end product, so they exclude all dishware.
- Consumer Habits: Even where facilities exist, many consumers do not separate compostables from regular trash.
Not All Compostables Are The Same
The compostability of an item depends greatly on both its material and the certification scheme it has passed. Here’s a basic comparison in a table format:
| Item Type | Breaks Down At Home? | Needs Industrial Composter? | Composts in Landfill? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food scraps, uncoated paper | Yes (quickly, even in backyard pile) | No | Rarely (very slow, sometimes persists) |
| Cornstarch utensils, PLA cups | No | Yes (needs sustained high heat) | Rarely or never; may persist or release methane |
| Bagasse (sugarcane fiber), bamboo plates | Sometimes (varies by thickness) | Preferable | Very slow; often persists |
Environmental Risks of Landfilling Compostables
- Methane Production: As compostable and biodegradable materials break down in oxygen-poor landfills, they risk generating methane, which has 30x the warming potential of carbon dioxide.
- Loss of Compost Value: Valuable organics, instead of enriching soils, are trapped and wasted.
- Persistent Waste: Many items do not break down at all without oxygen and warmth, defeating the perceived environmental value.
“Green” Landfills: Are There Alternatives?
Some municipalities now maintain green waste landfills designed to decompose organics more naturally, often segregating yard and food waste from general trash. While better than standard landfills, these facilities are still rare and largely aimed at trimmings and food scraps rather than manufactured packaging. Ultimately, municipal composting is much more effective for soil and climate than green waste landfills.
Does It Still Make Sense to Choose Compostable?
This is the central dilemma for consumers who wish to do the right thing. Should you buy compostable products if there’s little chance they’ll get properly composted? Consider these perspectives:
- Compostable packaging is often better in sourcing and manufacture, reducing fossil fuel use and emissions.
- However, landfill outcomes are uncertain—sometimes persistent, sometimes causing more greenhouse emissions via methane.
- For most impact, system-level changes are needed: improved collection, processing infrastructure, and manufacturer responsibility.
Better Choices: How to Maximize Your Eco Impact
If you want to reduce your environmental footprint, experts suggest these guidelines:
- Reduce and Reuse First: Prioritize products with less packaging and those you can reuse repeatedly.
- Know Your Local Options: Learn what your community composts. Many only take uncoated paper, food, and plant trimmings.
- Separate Correctly: Avoid contaminating compost bins with non-compostables or overly soiled items.
- Pursue Recyclable Over Compostable Where Appropriate: If composting isn’t available, recyclable packaging (like clean cardboard or select plastics) may be a greener alternative.
- Support Policy Change: Advocate for better composting infrastructure and clearer labeling laws to eliminate consumer confusion.
FAQs: Compostable Packaging, Landfills, and the Environment
Q: What is the difference between compostable and biodegradable packaging?
A: Compostable packaging is designed to break down into non-toxic, soil-enriching compost under controlled, aerobic conditions. Biodegradable only means it will break down eventually, with no promises about time or byproducts.
Q: If compostable items end up in landfill, do they still break down?
A: In most cases, no. Landfills are oxygen-poor, so compostable items often persist for years or decades—or break down very slowly, producing methane rather than compost.
Q: Is it better to use recyclable plastic or compostable products in areas without composting?
A: It depends. If compostable items will be landfilled, recyclable materials that can actually be recycled locally may be a better option. Always check local guidelines.
Q: Can you compost compostable dishware at home?
A: Most industrially compostable dishware isn’t designed for backyard compost piles, which seldom reach the needed heat and microbial diversity. Look for products labeled “home compostable” if you plan to try this.
Q: What can I do to make compostable packaging effective?
A: Check with your waste hauler about accepted materials, separate your food scraps and uncoated compostables, avoid contamination, and support local composting programs.
References
For this article, key data and scientific insights were drawn from sustainability organizations, environmental agencies, and recent studies examining compostable packaging and landfill operations.
References
- https://www.livescience.com/63597-compost-trash-in-landfills.html
- https://sustainablepackaging.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/UnderstandingCompostablePackagingGuide.pdf
- https://www.recyclesmart.org/houses-green-cart
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9399006/
- https://ecooptimism.com/?tag=treehugger
- https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-management-food/composting
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