Eco-friendly packaging is a smart investment when it matches what your hauler and receiving site can actually process. It's an expensive mistake when it doesn't.
The short version
- Industrial / commercially compostable (look for BPI certification): designed to break down in a managed facility at 131–140 °F over weeks. This is what most commercial routes accept.
- Home compostable: designed to break down in a backyard pile at much lower temperatures. Thinner, often visually indistinguishable from regular plastic to a sorting crew, and frequently pulled as contamination at the receiving site.
- “Biodegradable” with no certification: marketing language. Treat as trash unless proven otherwise.
Why it matters for you
If you're about to standardize on a cup, clamshell, or utensil for your business, ask us first. We'll tell you what our receiving partner accepts today, what they screen out, and what alternatives won't get flagged as contamination on your load.
