Coffee without the coffee bean, bioplastic burial pods, fruit and algae clothing, soy straws, and more: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of April 12th

#6 Is biobased better? Latest research says not for food service ware

In Oregon, a study conducted by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) challenges whether biobased, recyclable and compostable products help a product’s environmental impact.

The study found that “Biobased food service ware (FSW) is generally not preferable to fossil-based FSW. This is because production impacts for biobased materials tend to be higher than for conventional materials. Compostable FSW is generally not preferable to non-compostable FSW, as they are generally biobased, resulting in higher production impacts than fossil-based materials, and receiving less credits at end-of-life than other waste management options. A possible exception is a case where FSW is collected and composted with food waste due to improvements in collection efficiency and the increased nutrient content of the compost resulting from the increased amount of organic material composted along with the FSW. However, the only studies found that explored this option focused on compostable tableware and cutlery, which suggests more research is needed to fully ascertain the benefits of co-collection of compostable FSW and other organic waste.

Four attributes were examined: recycled content, biobased, recyclable, and compostable. This research is the first of its kind and tests the connection between common attributes for packaging and food service ware and environmental outcomes.
More on the story, here.