Are You Wasting Your Biodegradable Products?

We posted recently about the amount of waste going into our environment every single year, and the HUGE problem this is having on our environment.

In our Autumn Box this season we featured quite a few recycled, reusable or biodegradable products. Recycling or reusing products can be self-explanatory, so as inspired by the BARE By Bauer biodegradable toothbrush found in the box, we thought we’d delve a little deeper into what biodegradable really means, and how to properly dispose of a biodegradable product!

What does biodegradable mean?

In short if something is biodegradable it means it easily, naturally and quickly breaks down into the earth leaving little to no toxins behind.

How does that compare to regular plastics or other materials?

On the other hand, plastics may never fully break down, and many other materials leave behind chemicals and harmful substances.

Biodegradable = less chemicals in our soil and waterways, and less space taken up in landfil.

(Using the toothbrush as an example, can imagine the impact simply swapping the 30 million plastic toothbrushes going into landfill each year in Australia, with biodegradable toothbrushes..?!)

How to dispose of biodegradable products  

• Do your own composting: do you already have a compost pile in the backyard? If yes, dispose of your biodegradable products directly into your compost pile and pull out a big smug smile of your #adulting efforts. If not, think about creating one. Composting your own biodegradable waste (whether biodegradable products or food scraps) in your own backyard or courtyard is the easiest and quickest way to dispose of biodegradable products. And it's not as hard as it sounds - google has many, many tutorials on creating your own compost bin or pile at home!
• Find your closest commercial compostable waste facility: your local council (or google!) should be able to tell you.
• Find out if your local waste disposal system supports compostable waste: some local waste disposal organisations actually arrange pick ups of biodegradable waste. South Australians for example benefit from kerbside collection in many council areas (bravo, guys!).  

In saying this, it’s important to note that different products can have different requirements when it comes to disposal. We recommend always seeking instructions on how to dispose of a biodegradable product, which should be included on the package of most biodegradable products.

For those of you wondering how to dispose of your BARE By Bauer toothbrush, the BBB team have full instructions on their website. (Hint: remove the bristles and straight into your compost bin!).

How not to dispose of them!

Don’t put them in your regular bin - biodegradable products finding themselves amongst lots of other waste are unlikely to break down (or not quickly anyway!).

Also, don’t wrap them in plastic before following one of the above disposal methods. Need we explain more?!

When it comes to helping our environment, knowledge is power. How many of you have felt better for purchasing something that is biodegradable in the past, but were disposing directly into your regular bin and therefore completing missing the point of biodegradable products in the first place?

And a BIG thanks to the BARE By Bauer team for helping to spread the word on biodegradable products and being so passionate about protecting this amazing planet we all live on!

You can read more about BARE By Bauer here: www.barebybauer.com.au