Are Plastics Compostable?

Compostable plastics are biodegradable in composting conditions, while other plastics degrade in the soil (landfills or anaerobic digestors). It is important to note that compostability is a characteristic of a product, packaging or associated component that allows it to biodegrade under specific conditions.

Type of Biodegradable Plastics

There are two main types of biodegradable plastics:

1. Oxo-biodegradable

1. Hydro-biodegradable

In both cases, degradation begins with a chemical process (oxidation and hydrolysis respectively), followed by a biological process. Both types emit CO2 as they degrade, but hydro-biodegradable plastics can also emit methane.
Both types of biodegradable plastics are compostable, but only the former can be recycled.

Compostable plastics are biodegradable in composting conditions, while other plastics degrade in the soil (landfills or anaerobic digestors).

It is important to note that compostability is a characteristic of a product, packaging or associated component that allows it to biodegrade under specific conditions (e.g. a certain temperature, timeframe, etc.). Hence, the primary difference between compostable and biodegradable is that compostable plastics are biodegradable in composting conditions, while other plastics degrade in the soil (landfills or anaerobic digestors).

About our Mission – Hydrte was launched in 2019 with one main goal in mind, to produce a water bottle that helped significantly reduce single-use plastic consumption, whilst being stylish & convenient.
One million single-use plastic water bottles are sold every 60 seconds worldwide.
This is a huge problem for our planet.
60% of these bottles end up in landfill or even our rivers and oceans.