[mimon]

They already manufacture a variety of biodegradable plastics. They are not more widely used because they have some combination of undesirable properties compared to common plastics (expensive, brittle, cannot be exposed to sunlight, moisture, etc.)

[batman-farts]

Preprocessing for recycling is a big concern too. When I still worked at the farmers market in San Francisco, I overheard one of the small-time sellers telling the staff that she couldn’t take the compostable green Bio-Bags to Marin, only SF and Alameda County — as Marin’s waste disposal facilities apparently weren’t equipped to shred them before composting.

The dense compostable plastic cutlery must demand even more processing, and/or higher heat in the compost pile. Recology’s compost piles outside of Dixon are absolutely massive, mid-size hills unto themselves. They must get pretty hot in the middle.