Break down of corn-starch bags

Compost watch: do corn-starch bags really break down in your backyard compost?

For many of us the concept of using compostable bags, made with corn-starch, is fairly new. But most of us are all for making the transition from traditional plastic bags - so long as their bioplastic counterparts really do what is claimed.

Recently @secateur.me.baby posted a series of pictures to social media showing exactly what happened in his home compost pile. This home compost experiment was genuinely independent, with no influence or prompting from Ecobags or Ecopack.

For the experiment, an Ecopack compostable resealable bag was placed in a regular home compost pile. In theory these bags should take longer to compost than any others in the Ecopack range due to their ‘zip lock’ which has a much thicker composition than regular bags or bin liners.

It is usually said that compostable bags take 90 – 180 days to break down. Industrial composting is much faster than home composting thanks for the high temperatures and optimum conditions achieved in a professional commercial compost environment.

We will continue to share updates from @secateur.me.baby, so check back here or keep an eye on Ecobags’ Facebook or Instagram to see how long it takes for these ziplocks to completely return to nature.