Biobag 100% Biodegradable Bags
BioBag is America’s best selling brand of 100% biodegradable and compostable bags that are made from corn. So many people currently use polyethelene plastic bags for their trash cans or for our lawn, but they can take thousands of years to degrade. Using a a biodegradable product like BioBags makes complete sense when our trash only ends up in landfills landfill anyways.
About BioBag
BioBag is located out of Palm Harbor, Florida. The main reason for creating his bags because traditional plastic bags are not digested by microorganism and thus are not biodegradable. They believe that plastic has its purposes for things that are supposed to last, but not for disposable items. BioBag products on the other hand are 100% biodegradable and compostable. Under normal conditions, a BioBag can completely decompose within 1-3 months and in just about 10 days when put in a compost. Here’s an interview with Terry Phillips from BioBag on the benefits of using their bags:
There are a variety of bags produced by BioBag besides just kitchen and leaf bags:
- Dog Waste Bags
- Cat Pan Liners
- Composting System bags
- Bio-Toilet bags
- Shopping Bags
BioBag has receive national attention by being recommended by both Oprah.com and MarthaSturat.com as well as making several major news programs, magazines and journals. There bags meet a variety of standards worldwide including the Biodegradable Products Institute’s certification. BioBag also has a certification to ensure that all of the soy inks used on their bags do not contain metallic content.
Mater-Bi
Mater-Bi is the material that BioBag uses to make all of its bags. It’s made form an Italian research company Novamont out of the belief that materials from agriculture origin will return into the earth. It was the first bio-polymer ever invented that is both biodegradable and compostable. The material is made from a non-genetically altered corn starch that is easy to work with and can be used on the same equipment as some traditional plastics. This makes it easy for companies to print and color on Materi-Bi just as they would with plastic.
Review
I use BioBag products on a regular basis. I have tried many of their bags including the tall kitchen bags and leaf bag with great results in both uses. The Mater-Bi material has a similar feel to plastic and feels just as durable as it as well. Because these bags are biodegradable, they are not going to be a strong as some extremely strong plastic bags like the Glad Force Flex. Should our kitchen bags really be that strong though? I have only had one tear, which was my fault. I was able to test how biodegradable and compostable these bags really are with the leaf bag that I broke. I was a little skeptical that it wouldn’t degrade in my composter, but I was proven wrong. It did take a little longer than 10 days that I mentioned above, but it only took a few weeks to break down. I know that it did break down because I stir my compost bin on a regular basis. I have been happy with how strong these bags are and would recommend their use to anyone.
Where to Buy?
Being the most popular brands of biodegradable bags, BioBag is available in a number of online retailers along with almost any local natural food store. Most of their bags are comparably priced to traditional plastic bags you would buy in the grocery store, at around $5 (depending on the type and count of bags ).
Comments
What a great idea. Who knew that it would take 1000 years for polyethylene to biodegrade. Given that it can disappear in 10 days in a compost I wonder what the shelf life of these bags are. Then again, most people need only use them once and then throw them away. Its great to see people thinking about our future and I hope to see these locally in the near, near future.
This article comes at a perfect time … my “Change The World Wednesdays” challenge is all about NOT using plastic bags … these seem like the perfect alternative.
One word of caution, though … tossing garbage into even a bio-bag should be the last resort. Whenever possible, reuse and compost. Landfills, unfortunately, are packed tightly turning them into anaerobic environments. This means that they are without air. Decomposition requires air. So, even biodegradable materials can last for many, many years in a landfill.
The good news is that the bio-bags won’t be leaching into our waterways or the food chain.
Thanks for sharing!
Small Footprints
Excellent point Small Footprints. BioBags are great substitutes for plastic bags. They do take longer to decompose in some conditions, like in landfills. Landfills are already overfilled anyways so composting and reusing are far better methods of making sure that they don’t continue to fill. I end up using far less trash bags just off of composting alone.
Plastic is difficult to decompose. Every time I go to the shopping center, there are many things made by plastic. There are some plastic food containers, plastic for some toys, and other plastic items. Among those things, for the plastic bags which are used only once and then become garbage, we have to think differently. If one of us throw away one plastic bag every day, our world might be covered by plastic garbage.
I flush my dog’s poop down the toilet with a flushable doggy waste bag. Most eco-friendly way to get ride of dog poop.
The company is called Flush Doggy.
There are flushable dog poop bags. The best answer probably because dog poop can get treated just as your poop is.
FlushDoggy, is a fully biodegradable, flushable(water soluble) dog waste bag that is very eco-friendly.
Dog doodies are best to be flushed down the toilet and degrade naturally , just as our own doodies. Stop destroying our earth and start educating the public, one poop at a time. Be a responsible owner and go green for our pets.
Biodegradable plastic and packaging is a modern necessity for our ever-endangered environment.
Now PLA has been used to line the indoors of Paper Cups in place of the oil based lining additional usually used, create Plastic Cups, Plates, Carrier Bags, Food Packaging and even Nappies.
Eco Pure is our proprietary blend of organic materials that does not modify the base resin to which it is added.
Thanks a lot for your information