Recycling is cool. Reusing is pretty sweet. But composting? Next level.
What is Home Compostable?
From recycled and upcycled to sustainable, clean, natural, or organic...there's a lot of new terms in the beauty industry, and it can be a little tricky to keep up. Of course, we want to shop as sustainably as possible, so we're here to bust the myth of the new sustainability term on the market: compostable.
End-of-life disposal is a crucial consideration for good reason. To respond to these demands, traditional plastic is being replaced by "biodegradable", "post-consumer recycled" and other mysterious alternative materials labeled as "eco-friendly" or "compostable."
So what does "compostable" actually mean?
When compostable packaging started appearing on the market, it was exciting! We started seeing compostable mailers, bowls, to-go containers everywhere.
Turns out, there are some key details in the fine print. As exciting as widespread sustainability measures can be, they can actually be more harmful than helpful. Womp.
A lot of us are familiar with the backyard bin of food scraps, or for you city dwellers, the countertop tub for rinds, peels, and cores (I prefer the freezer for my scraps, personally.) What companies don't tell you is that "compostable" containers don't always belong here.
Unless a material is explicitly labeled as home compostable, you actually don't want to put it into your compost because:
Turns out, there are some key details in the fine print. As exciting as widespread sustainability measures can be, they can actually be more harmful than helpful. Womp.
A lot of us are familiar with the backyard bin of food scraps, or for you city dwellers, the countertop tub for rinds, peels, and cores (I prefer the freezer for my scraps, personally.) What companies don't tell you is that "compostable" containers don't always belong here.
Unless a material is explicitly labeled as home compostable, you actually don't want to put it into your compost because:
- Industrially compostable materials only breaks down at temperatures over 136°F. Unfortunately, access to industrial compost is limited at best.
- It can cause contamination within your own compost.
Best practice to avoid greenwashing?
Stay away from vaguely labeled single-use plastics wherever possible. To make it easier for all, we nixed the single-use plastic pouch and have a reusable, home-compostable solution to our new packaging.
Meet the Sparkling Bath Salts, our new detoxifying blend of minerals that turns every bath from basic to blissful. We mindfully packaged our Salts in beautiful refillable glass carafes wrapped with handwoven seagrass. But our favorite part are the refills. Keep refilling your carafe with our ZERO WASTE REFILL POUCHES!
Meet the Sparkling Bath Salts, our new detoxifying blend of minerals that turns every bath from basic to blissful. We mindfully packaged our Salts in beautiful refillable glass carafes wrapped with handwoven seagrass. But our favorite part are the refills. Keep refilling your carafe with our ZERO WASTE REFILL POUCHES!These home compostable pouches are Austria's OK HOME certified (see bottom of each pouch) and are guaranteed to turn back into soil in your garden compost heap in a matter of months. Easy, peasy.
