All of our compostable products are made from renewable, sustainable plant based material, so not only are our products good for the planet but you can actually add them to your businesses food waste collection or home food waste collection and they will break down within months (it can be as little as 7 weeks or 26 weeks depending on the type of conditions it is composted in) so we realised it may be a good idea to give you some tips on composting to help you turn your packaging into soil enriching nitrogen.
 


Can all of The Pure Options™ products be composted?

All of our products are made from plants and can be composted (even the plastic looking products as they are also made from plants).

Something to be aware of

Home composters generally have varying degrees of health and heat which can make the breakdown of our products much longer, we have tested them in a healthy biological composter with an active soil food web and one with low levels of bacteria and insects and decomposition times varied from 26 weeks to 104 weeks.

So the healthier your composter, the quicker they break down.


What's great about composting.

The most obvious benefit is that it saves your business money as they can be put in your food waste, reducing your waste collection costs but there is more to love about composting than just money.

Compost energises the soil food web, which is made up of microscopic bacteria and fungi, along with earthworms, crickets, and many other life forms, improving bio diversity.


Improved soil structure.

Soil with a healthy structure is crumbly to the touch, allowing plenty of room for air, water and energy to move freely. Adding compost to your garden also helps to neutralize pH and improve the caution exchange capacity (CEC) of soils, increasing their ability to hold nutrients for plant use.


Increased nutrient content

When organic material is broken down in a compost pile, the decomposition process produces the best fertiliser you can get improving what is referred to as the soil food web.
Leading to a diverse and active organic structure which feeds a huge range of species which in turn create macro nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and micro nutrients such as manganese, copper, iron and zinc all of which improve the bio diversity of the local area and improve the quality, taste and health of plants grown in a natural fertiliser rich soil.


Use less water and reduce flooding

Improving soil structure and boosting nutrient content is about more than producing healthier crops. Fertile soil also has far greater moisture retention, allowing you to use less water in your garden. With the introduction of organic matter, heavy soils are better equipped to hold water and resist compaction reducing erosion and runoff. 

Test conducted by the US Environmental Protection Agency found that natural fertiliser can retain 60567 litres per acre for every 1% of natural fertiliser and a further study shows that the healthiest soil structure should contain at least 5% of organic fertiliser which means on average over 302,000 more water retention per acre, so surprisingly natural fertiliser can reduce the risk of flooding and plant deaths through rotting.


Healthier soil

Research undertaken also by the University of Illinois shows that natural organic compost tends to produce plants with fewer pest problems and healthier bigger and better tasting plants with healthier organic soil food web.


Eliminates need for chemical fertilisers

If we composted packaging rather than sending it for incineration or landfill we could replace all the 500,000 disposable cups we throw away every day and use this to create natural non toxic compost which is healthier for the planet and the health of our communities.


We could stop removing peat from peatlands.

This is a real problem that is sadly not well known but extracting peat for use in bags of compost actually releases 630,000 tonnes of Co2 into the atmosphere as it's nature's carbon sponge, it is actually 2½ times more effective at removing carbon than trees.

Find out more about the importance of Peat lands here.