We've written before about biodegradable plastics, such as the corn-based containers used at eco-minded stores like Wild Oats. The containers are a great idea in theory, and could one day revolutionize the fast-food industry. But for the moment, the containers can pose a problem. They're not recyclable, even though they look like traditional plastic. But they don't decompose in standard backyard composts, because they need a higher temperature to fully degrade. Yet there's no collection method set up for them in most places, so the alternative is often to simply throw them in the trash - meaning they're sent to landfills, where biodegradable is meaningless.

The New Zealand Herald has an interesting story on the topic today, after a British company launched a corn-based water bottle. One recycling expert told the paper the bottles could "contaminate" the recycling process, because there's no system in place for sorting them from regular plastics.

Here in the U.S., we generate 210 million tons of trash each year. Contrary to what many people think, if we throw away something that's biodegradable, it's not going to degrade if it ends up in a landfill. Landfills are low-oxygen environments, designed this way on purpose so that waste doesn't seep into surrounding soil. But without oxygen, microorganisms can't do their biodegrading thing. So corn-based plastics will last nearly as long in the landfill as their non-biodegradable traditional plastic cousins.

Some cities are starting municipal composting programs, which send the compostable materials to an industrial facility that operates at a much higher temperature than your traditional backyard pile. There, corn-based plastics can quickly and happily degrade.

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