uh-oh! bioplastics are bad-- unless you compost them properly.

Can't things compost in the landfills?

MISINFORMATION: " 1. Although they're biodegradable, no one composts them. We don't. If they go in a landfill, they don't save space, and you can't recycle them, so putting them in the recycling bin just messes with the system."

>>>actually, they disintegrate and dissolve, with heat (pour some hot water in one and see what happens).

DO NOT put them in a recycling bin, put them in the trash! (the heat from the landfill will compost them).

Sounds pretty corny to me...

Do you have any source to support your point?

A good journalist is bound by the ethic of verifying his or her sources. With an accusation (such your words about the Corn lobby), you should provide the sources as well.

You should also be prudent when attacking the lobby X (here the corn lobby) if you do not do the job of the lobby Y.

The oil based plastic industry is working very hard trying to rehabilitate their stuff. One of their strong argument is that petroleum based plastics requires less petroleum than glass or corn based plastic. Transporting liquids in a plastic bottle requires less gazoline than the same amount of liquid in a glass bottle.

Landfills are anaerobic environments (no oxygen), so pretty much nothing biodegrades in them. Even paper can sit there for decades. Compostable plastics won't even break down in your backyard compost heap (or by the side of the road), they need to go to a special commercial composting facility (read the article above!):

"PLA is said to decompose into carbon dioxide and water in a “controlled composting environment” in fewer than 90 days. What’s a controlled composting environment? Not your backyard bin, pit or tumbling barrel. It’s a large facility where compost—essentially, plant scraps being digested by microbes into fertilizer—reaches 140 degrees for ten consecutive days. So, yes, as PLA advocates say, corn plastic is “biodegradable.” But in reality very few consumers have access to the sort of composting facilities that can make that happen"

FYI -- my source is this article from the Smithsonian Institution.

P.S. Try the thing with the hot water, it won't work. (I dare you!)

we live in san francisco, where there is citywide composting. all the more reason for Current to set up compost bin in kitchenette areas, since our city offers the luxury of pickup. otherwise, our hard-fought-for corn forks are a big waste--aside from being good to chew up during stressful meetings...

This just means that we're going to have to eat what we eat with and then have cake afterwards with our bare hands.