Watch Plastic Stuff disappear in time-lapse?
Have You Seen Plastic Stuff Decompose?
in this post
- a T-shirt decomposed in 12 weeks
- Plastic bags – 6-8 weeks
- Band Aids / bandages disappear in 10 weeks
- The 38 day life of a compostable Food Waste Trash Bag – just long enough
- Diving Deeper into "Compostable" Packaging
- Planet Earth has something that humans have forgotten: >>> Decomposers!
- Packaging made from an important Decomposer!
- Not there yet….HOME or NOT HOME
- What is Industrial Composting?
- other posts about Waste Plastic
Feature Image: from the company https://tipa-corp.com/
What Plastics Technology? Take a Look at these time lapse videos of stuff decomposing…..
a T-shirt decomposed in 12 weeks
Jan 14, 2022 – Austria – This video showcases via timelaps video how a T-Shirt made out of 100% TENCEL(tm) Lyocell biodegrades within 12 weeks. – TENCEL™ Lyocell, TENCEL™ Modal and LENZING™ ECOVERO™ Viscose fibers are biodegradable in soil and ocean. Furthermore, they are compostable. We have proofs from 3rd parties – accredited laboratories and scientific, peer-reviewed publication about the study in natural environment conducted by renowned institute Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) at the University of California, San Diego.
Plastic bags – 6-8 weeks
This bag decomposed in 6 weeks, merging with the soil
Mar 2, 2025 – HongKong – 🌿 Week 1: Softening begins. Edges curl, logos fade into the compost.
🌿 Weeks 2–3: Cracks form, holes appear, and waste transforms into wonder.
🌿 Weeks 4–6: The bag dissolves into fragments, merging with the soil.
🌿 Final Week: Poof! 🎉 Nothing left but nourished earth.
This isn’t just a bag—it’s a promise. A promise to protect our planet, one pouch at a time. 🌿
Packaging decomposes over 8 weeks in soil
Feb 22, 2019 – Australia – The first Australian certified home compostable barrier packaging, giving longer shelf life options and packaging formats not previously available with home compostable films.
Band Aids / bandages disappear in 10 weeks
Jun 19, 2018 – Australia – A time lapse video of a PATCH bandage breaking down compared to other bandages made from plastic and fabric.
In 2017, after months of intense product development, we created PATCH natural bamboo bandages. Why Bamboo? Well, non-toxic and sustainable bamboo is both human and planet friendly, providing an alternative to commonly used materials. Our products exist as a solution for skin sensitivities, as well as a better option for the environment. Now, with an extensive product range, PATCH is the leader in eco-friendly and sustainable solutions to common first-aid. We’re proudly listed as Best For The World, and one of the top 5% B-Corp companies for our category in the world.
But will these new plastics last long enough to use them as needed?
The 38 day life of a compostable Food Trash Bag – holds together just long enough to get organic garbage out and into the bin.
Jun 24, 2021 – Belgium – The Compost Bag Company produces compostable bags from renewable, plant-based materials. As a result, the bags contain no (micro) plastics. So how sturdy are the bin liners? We did the test with a full container liner that was pulled up daily.
What Plastics Technology?
Diving Deeper into “Compostable” Packaging
If you’re new to “home composting”:
Composting is one of the world’s most natural recycling systems. It describes a process where living micro-organisms break down organic matter (fruit, vegetables, branches, leaves, compostable packaging, etc.) into carbon dioxide, water, and Biomass; the components of compost rich soil.
Jul 13, 2022 – Israel – When placed in compost conditions (like soil), the bag first breaks apart into very small pieces. These small pieces are digested by microorganisms that live in compost piles. Microorganisms convert these small pieces into H2O, CO2 and organic biomass. Then, we get healthy compost
Composting Conditions:
The temperature and humidity of your home compost will vary. Standard home compost temperatures tend to hover at 25 ± 5 ᵒC, with a target humidity of around 50%. Under normal composting conditions, your packaging will disintegrate within 6 months, and fully degrade within a year.
If Certified “home compostable”:
TIPA’s packaging will completely disintegrate in home compost within 6-12 months.
Please do not try to recycle TIPA® films or packaging, as they are not re-useable and will have to be removed from the recycling stream.
Specific certifications apply to specific products, ensuring compliance with relevant composting standards. All TIPA films and laminates are – either – certified for home or industrial composting by various certification bodies such as TÜV AUSTRIA, BPI, ABA, Din Certco, BNQ, and Cré, each adhering to the highest standards. Look closely at these certifications…some are for “home composting”.
Nov 2, 2022 – Israel We tested a TIPA bag used to sell a T-Shirt in a home compost pile. Disappeared in 13 weeks .
Going Back to Basics: How to Start Your Home Compost pile
What Plastics Technology?
Planet Earth has something that humans have forgotten: Decomposers!
The old Plastic
was not developed
for Decomposers!
…So it piles up….
What are Decomposers?
Apr 22, 2016 – Watch as leaves are slowly recycled back to nutrients. The decomposers are vital to returning nutrients and matter back to the soil so the cycle of life can keep cycling.
What Plastics Technology?
Packaging made from an important Decomposer!
To combat styrofoam and plastic waste some smart humans have created a compostable packaging material by growing mushroom mycelium together with agricultural matter to make MycoComposite™.
You can buy small pots ready-made or as a DIY kit from https://www.grown.bio/shop/, OR… If you get a TV or something else packaged in mushroom packaging just break it up and throw it in your garden. And if some of the pieces have a shape like the seed starters in the video, add a little dirt and some seeds and make your own Seed Starters.
Nov 9, 2019 – The Fungi Package is fully compostable, the activity of the mushrooms and bacteria in the ground makes sure it will become one with the soil.
Mushroom® Packaging is always 100% home and marine compostable at the end of use. MycoComposite™ is made from Mushroom Mycelium; one of nature’s BIG Decomposers and some kind of Biomass.
In this video: It appears that a small seed pot, like the ones above was buried in soil. After 1 week the package is still firm. But after 4 weeks, you can see that the package has changed significantly and is reverting back into soil components!
May 23, 2023 – The Netherlands –
Here is a different kind of mushroom packaging >>> coffins. They too break down / decompose underground in 45 days…… Loop Biotech builds the world’s first living coffins that when buried enrich the earth.
What Plastics Technology?
Not there yet….HOME or NOT HOME
When dealing with today’s compostable plastics, look for the puzzles that still exist. For example……………..
PLA: an early pioneer biodegradable plastic >>>>> requires Industrial Composting
If you want to know how biodegradable clothing, plastic bin liners and other things biodegrade take a look at https://www.goinggreensolutions.com.au/ and their video channel.
What is Industrial Composting?
A large scale commercial industrial composting facility goes a couple of steps past nature…………more heat, shredding…….
What Plastics Technology?
Fossil Fuel is ancient organic waste. We can make better plastics with todays organic waste. We just have to keep working on it.
*The journey towards fossil-FREE plastics has only just begun
July 2024 – …Currently, most (but all) initiatives for greener plastics are in the experimental stage.
…Governments can spearhead this change – similarly to how the European Commission banned plastic straws and implemented a deposit scheme for plastic bottles to promote recycling….
When will the market for bioplastics increase?
In 2016, Grand View Research stated that bioplastics controlled less than a 2 percent share of the plastics industry in 2015. They predicted that bioplastics would control a 5 percent market share of the total plastics market by 2020 ( and a 40 percent share by 2030, making bioplastics a $324 billion-dollar enterprise in just over a decade.
[In April 2019 it was reported that Bioplastics covered approximately 10-15% of the total plastics market and would increase its market share to 25-30% by 2020.]
So the climb is faster than once predicted, but still fossil fuel plastics will dominate for some time.
other posts about Waste Plastic
Posts about Plastic Waste:
Waste Plastic Upcycle Businesses – Opportunities, Opportunities!
Hurray For Planet Earth! And Democracy!
Waste Plastic BUSINESSES – UpCycle
COVID 19 Waste – Pick It Up Off The Street!
Recycling Grants/Funding For Waste Plastic
The Collapsable Coffee Cup Wars
Waste Plastic – Business Success Stories
and Following the Ocean Cleanup project……………
Plastic in the Oceans >> Ocean Cleanup!
System 001/B – Ocean Cleanup – Update
Ocean Cleanup >> Is Beginning To Clean-Up!
INTERCEPTOR™ Jobs! Business!, +1000+ Jobs!
There Is Only One Good Thing About That Idiot In The White House, Exiting The Paris Agreement….
More waste ideas:
Harvesting Waste Ideas. Waste Rushes? NOW!
The University Of Exeter – Business Consulting, Materials Testing
Africa For Small Businesses – Opportunities, Opportunities !
Eco-Printing & Packaging EQUIPMENT
Eco-Plastic
Hard-To-Recycle Waste – What Do You Have? What Are You Looking For?
Wasterush Tools! Right To The Point!
Great work Lesley. I love the quick videos of composting materials. The only one I have experience with is the kitchen bag. We try to get it to our composting bin before it falls apart – not always successful.
Well, maybe you did not know that it would last 38 days? longer than a month. Maybe you will be successful every time.
Glad to here you are buying compostable plastic and voting for planet Earth.
Lesley