Buy Biodegradable
There are lots of products out there that can help you cut down on your waste. Why not try something new?
Wanna Earn(hardt) major green points?
The Bite
Ready, set, go bio. If you gotta use disposable plate ware and utensils, opt for biodegradable options (often made from corn or sugarcane), and compost them at the end of the race.The Benefits
- Driving laps around waste. Your best bet is to go with reusable kitchenware, but families who compost can keep 500 pounds of perfectly biodegradable kitchen and garden waste out of landfills every year (and most stuff doesn’t decompose easily in landfills).
- Winning the eco-Grand Prix. Dispose of your bioplastics correctly (by either composting at home or sending them to a facility – see below), and you won’t end up with 5-year-old bio-sporks and knives in your compost heap.
- Opting for reusable stuff is even greener, but if 10,000 Biters compost a pound of compostable plastic each week, we’ll keep the weight of more than 3,467 sanitation workers in waste outta landfills every year.
Personally Speaking
Toshio’s a fan of biodegradable utensils…except when he’s eating soup and the spoon starts melting.Wanna Try?
- Bioplastics are usually marked as biodegradable or compostable, and with a number seven. Plastics that say "biodegradable" may contain toxins, so you have to send it to a special composting facility (enter compost and your zip here to find one nearby). A "compostable" label means it’s nontoxic and breaks down as fast as paper in your home compost pile.
- Don’t toss either kind into the recycle bin, since they won’t mix correctly with other plastics.
- Verterra – compostable one-use bowls, plates, and platters made from fallen leaves ($9-$13/10).
- Biodegradable Store – carries just about every type of bio food ware out there. Note: A lot of bio food ware is made with GMO corn (prices vary).
- Compost Guide – everything you ever wanted to know about composting, and then some.