With waste overtaking the planet. Today, waste can be found in our oceans, in our inland rivers, lakes, and ponds. With a composting rate of a mere 35%, the United States is getting overwhelmed by the waste growing in our landfills. Since the 1960’s landfills have been growing in waste composition and today landfills contribute excessive methane that far outreaches the contribution of cars to our accumulation of greenhouse gases.
The Original Purpose of the Landfill
The original goal of the landfill was to bury the waste so that it could decompose and eventually recede back into the earth as compost. With landfills now contributing methane that’s equivalent to the CO2 emissions from 20.6 million vehicles, we are on track to be overwhelmed by an environmental crisis toxic to humans. It’s imperative that we, humans find more ways to reduce our waste in a healthy and biodegradable manner.
Helping Waste to Decompose
One such way is with Compostable plates, made of plant matter that can easily decompose after the waste is disposed. One type of compostable plate is made from natural palm leaves. When these palm leaves fall to the ground, they are picked up and transported to a factory that grinds the leaves to a pulp and forms it into fiberboard. The tree that produces these leaves is the Arecaceae palm tree. This tree grows in both rainforests and deserts.
Products That Make Compostable Plates, while all paper plates are compostable, there are some plates that decompose even faster. These products are eco-friendly, and they are made from plants. The primary plants that are used to make compostable products are corn, wheat, potato starch, bulrush, bamboo, sugar cane, palm leaves, and banana leaves. All these very natural elements can easily decompose and reintegrate into nature.
Decomposing Time and Hygiene
The average piece of processed cardboard takes up to 5 years to decompose, while a compostable plate will only take 45 days to one year to decompose. When a large amount of the Bagasse from sugarcane production is reclaimed from landfills, it’s only natural, to wonder if the product is hygienic when made into a plate. What are the acceptable hygienic steps taken to make serve ware? Manufacturers of compostable products subject them to UV rays and the manufacturing process itself is complicated enough to clean the fibers sufficiently as they travel through the production steps. Unbleached plant fiber used to make serve ware is great for the environment. Reusing all our resources guarantees our continued survival on this planet.