One of the greatest concerns of the modern times is the environmental pollution. We get to hear issues like global warming, ozone depletion on a day to day basis. All these stem from the pollution of the biosphere. Litter is one of the biggest causes of pollution that regulations and educational programs have been unsuccessful in eradicating. Neither does an ordinary plastic bag decompose nor does it allow decomposition of substances within it. Under such circumstances compostable packaging is very useful. The plastic carry bags are one of the chief instruments of growing pollution.

Compostable packaging when disposed in a compost facility will decompose in less than 60 days. These environmentally friendly packaging materials are concurrent to the ASTM D6400 and EN 13432 standards. The bags and cups made of environmentally friendly packaging ingredients will degrade at 60 degrees centigrade. The bacteria in the soil will transform the packaging material in to biomass, carbon dioxide and water. These enviropacks are also compliant with emission standards. According to the standard a matter is considered biodegradable if it decomposes in the soil to the level so that the soil can be used for plantation without any toxic effects.

The compost formation happens through degradation. Degradation is a process in which large molecules are broken into smaller fragments. However, there is a difference between ‘degradable’ and ‘biodegradable’. Degradation is caused by moisture and UV exposure. In biodegradation, it is microorganisms that carry out decomposition of products. The biodegradable products take a longer span of time for decomposition. But all degradation ultimately leads to biodegradation. For example the degraded matter when reaches the granular level will be consumed by microorganisms and so biodegradation will occur. However the biodegradation of different materials happens at different speeds.

A product has to undergo 4 phases of testing to be called compostable. The first phase comprises the analysis of characteristics of the material. It indicates permissible levels for volatile content and does an infrared analysis of the material. The phase two includes aerobic biodegradation under controlled composting conditions. The test continues for 76 days at 58°C. Thereby an inoculum is extracted and a quantitative test is done one it. The third phase includes pilot scale composting and sieving test. It determines the degree of biodegradation that the product can undergo. A physical, chemical and eco-toxicity tests is carried out of the compost. The phase 4 checks if the compost id without any toxic effects. The compostable bags are made of starch based polymers, polyesters (Bacteria based polymers), starch or polyester blends, oxo-biodegradable polymers, photodegradable polymers, water-soluble polymers and many more.

Under the growing concern about the environment, compostable package systems are rightly developed to make the routine tasks of waste reduction easier, safer and better for the ecology. As a responsible citizen of this earth, you should take small steps that you can to protect the ecosystem. The foremost simple step would be to bid buy to ordinary plastic bags and use the biodegradable once. Moreover, the compostable bags are also cheap and affordable.