Just realized my 'compostable' to-go fork is sitting in a landfill somewhere

I was cleaning out my car last weekend and found an old compostable fork from a lunch place downtown. It looked exactly like it did when I got it months ago. No breakdown, no nothing. I always thought those compostable containers and utensils just... went away if you tossed them. But most places don't have industrial composting facilities. My city, population 45,000, doesn't have one at all. So everyone's tossing these in regular trash thinking they're helping. I asked the cashier at that lunch spot if they compost their own stuff and she just shrugged. Anyone know if there's actually a way to check if a restaurant's disposables ever see a real composter?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew9162d ago

Just realized" is the right moment for this, lol. Most "compostable" stuff needs industrial heat that literally doesn't exist in small towns. So yeah, it's basically just regular plastic in a green costume.

kelly_coleman612d ago

Regular plastic in a green costume" sums it up perfectly. I just stopped buying the stuff and started burying my food scraps directly in the garden.