The disappointing thing is that these large companies embossed the word ‘compostable’ on the cultery and lifted, without permission, Din Certco’s logo to authenticate their claim. Din certco is the German equivalent of BPI and certifies products as compostable in Europe. Please visit our blog at http://www.wastereductionstore.com to see the test results.

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics used Gallimore to provide their cultery. Only after we tipped off the press and the Olympics was this company forced to change their sources of cutlery. They had provided the Olympics with docuemtns stating that the resin they were using was certified as compostable. Companies need to be aware that they must insist on product certification in writing by a recognized third party like BPI or the soon to be launch Canadian equivalent BNQ.

Taterware is yet another product line, like many that is NOT doing their due diligence to back up their ‘green’ claims. We vetted this supplier in 2006 to determine whether or not we wanted to distribute their line. There were obvious reasons why the Taterware line is not marked ‘compostable’ but biodegradable: Litigation.

Theoretically anything is biodegradable- with time. Taterware can hide behind this marketing. In contrast the word compostable word (if embossed on the product) implies that the product met with internationally recognized ASTD stnadrds for compostability. When these claims are verified by a reputable lab and then authenticate by a non-profit like BPI, this ensures that the product will break down in a way that can create quality compost in a definite time frame.

The concept of ‘compostable’ products is to divert as much waste from landfills into composting programs and create a local resource. This is a bigger step forward from our recycling concept. The push with recycling was/is to divert as much waste from landfills into recycling centres, find brokers to sell it to manufacturers somewhere around the world to turn it into more things. This works very well with certain streams like carboard, aluminun, paper, etc. This concept does not work with disposable food ware. So when we implement composting programs we can divert both food waste and certified compostables into a local program and create a local resource to use on our soils.

We need to share this type of information about the products that can actually be sent to compost; how to set up (and why) compost programs to handle large scale business waste that can be composted; and which products are scams. Thanks for posting this info (and the additional comments). I will link to this site.