Composting Miscellaneous Materials

Wednesday, 5 February 2014 | HOTBIN Composting

Many plastics are biodegradable, however, the common plastics are often not. Plastics degrade in UV sunlight and UV degraded plastic is biodegradable. It can take a long time for these to biodegrade, usually varying between 50-500 years depending on the environmental conditions.

Always check whether the time quoted for a material to biograde is based on sea water, landfill (anaerobic), soil (cold composting), hot composting (aerobic), exposed to sun etc.

Miscellaneous Materials	Will it Decay	Cold Compost	HOTBIN Compost	Rate of decay in the HOTBIN	Comments
Glass	No	No	No	-
Metals	No	No	No	-	Metals degrade but do not biodegrade.
Plastics (acetates, PVC, PU, PLA, Polyesters, nylon)	Yes/No	No	No	Slow	These plastics slowly biodegrade. Times are measured in months to 50 years depending on the size of the pieces and the environmental conditions.
Plastics (PP, PE, PET, Polystrene)	Yes/No	No	No	Very slow	These plastics degrade in UV sunlight and UV degraded plastic is then biodegradable. Times are measured in 50-500 years depending on the size of the pieces and the environmental conditions.
Rubber, latex gloves and products	Yes	Not Advised	Yes	Slow	Natural latex (and synthetic latex) is biodegradable and compostable.
Vulcanised rubber (e.g. tyres)	Yes	No	No	Very slow	The vulcanised rubber is very slow to degrade and/or biodegrade.