Thankfully we are living in a society where the impact of our individual actions is becoming more and more prevalent. As the founder and owner of Lil'Bit Better, I have spent years looking for, and testing compostable solutions that are cost effective for a small business like mine. To say it has been challenging is, er, an understatement! Not only have I come across multiple companies here and overseas claiming to sell home compostable packaging, I have also uncovered massive amounts of greenwashing and to be honest, fraud. Fake certifications, labels stating compostable when they are really oxo-degradable or biodegradable, ignored requests for more information and so many lies or misdirection. Years of purchasing samples (sometimes as much as $50 for 1 pouch from O.S. due to shipping) and trialling them in my own compost bin led to disappointment after disappointment. I was getting so disillusioned and angry but refused to give up. Truly compostable pouches have been available in Australia for a while but have been so expensive (up to 60c more per bag) and freight costs from overseas were in the hundreds of dollars with minimum order requirements still in the tens of thousands. But, persistence has finally paid off! I am super proud to announce that our Rosalina Toilet Cleaning Tablets, Concentrated Eucalyptus Dishwasher Powder and Travel Laundry Sheets are packaged in 100% Certified HOME COMPOSTABLE pouches!!!!!
*Decomposition over an 8 week period in my own garden.
These pouches can be either home or facility composted and break down into carbon dioxide, fertilizer and water. That's it. You can even if you pop them in your kerbside trash if you don't compost. There is also no need to remove the labels as these are made of 100% recycled paper with a bioadhesive backing and they are printed with vegetable inks.
Home Compost: It will take around 360 days for the pouches to fully break down in a normal household compost. You can speed up the rate of degradation by cutting the pouch up into smaller pieces allowing more surface area for microbes to start nibbling away.
Normal kerbside rubbish: In your normal garbage, the pouches will start to degrade within a year. In 3-5 years the pouches would have fully broken down.
What is PLA ?
PLA (Polylactic Acid) is a kind of polyester produced by fermentation under controlled conditions of a carbohydrate source like corn starch or sugarcane.
Initially, the corn or cane goes through wet milling, a process in which the plant material is steeped in water to soften the fibers/kernel in order to help separate the various components. Here’s were the starch gets separated. The starch is then mixed with acid or enzymes and heated. This process “breaks” starch into dextrose (D-glucose), or corn sugar. Finally, fermentation of glucose produces L-Lactic acid, which will be the basic constituent of PLA. It's derived from renewable resources, a sharp contrast to the petroleum-based plastics, which have a finite availability and is close to carbon neutral: its renewable sources actually absorb carbon and it doesn't release toxic fumes when breaking down.
So there you have it. You can purchase Lil'Bit products knowing that you are now making the world even more than a Lil'Bit Better, you are making it awesome!
You can refer to the link on the website to see the full range of our compostable packaging.
https://www.lilbit.com.au/our-packaging
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