Compostable Packing Tape

I purchased an all-natural weed-n-feed from Gardens Alive (a sustainablog affiliate program), and when I received it, it was packed in these very cool biodegradeable packing peanuts. I simply threw them on the compost pile, hosed them down, and they dissolved before my eyes. Now, Treehugger points us to a similar development:

A biodegradable packaging tape made from renewable resources is being developed by German researchers that can be disposed of cheaply. Currently, used plastic wrappings and containers are incinerated or dumped in huge quantities on landfill sites with ongoing environmental results.

The organic packaging tape will be available worldwide in 2005 and may be as cheap as current tape if oil prices continue to rise and manufacturing costs come down.

The compostable tape is particularly effective for use when the rest of the packaging material is also biodegradable, allowing the whole unit to be disposed of without separating individual materials.

Under normal conditions, the composted film breaks down to half its weight within about four weeks. The compostable film is already being marketed under the name Bio-Flex 219F.

If this keeps up, pretty soon we won't have to worry about package trash, since we can just throw these things in the compost pile (or even the back yard) and just let them decompose...

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