We must all do our part to protect the environment for future development. To protect the environment, the changes we need to make can vary widely in scale and importance. For example, you can help protect the environment by minimizing energy use or choosing to take public transportation instead of driving your own car.
But, as a collective society, we can also make even greater changes. We can choose to replace something with a more environmentally friendly alternative, such as replacing paper bags with plastic bags. The government may even ban the use of specific materials or products outright to improve the environment. Think about those paper straws you've seen recently. Sure, they may fall apart more easily, but this prevents marine life from swallowing wasted plastic straws!
Surprisingly, all sorts of things in our lives can be exchanged for more environmental alternatives. With online businesses likeAlibaba playing a huge role in our lives, these companies must ship products in a sustainable way. For this reason, many people choose to choose compostable messages. But what exactly are they? What are they made of? Let's take a look!
What are Compostable Mailers?
Compostable mail is a very environmentally friendly alternative to standard packaging, and you often want to receive an online order. These emails are designed to rot easily once thrown away, so that once you're with them, they don't spend years in landfills.
Compostable mail can be used in your gardening if you choose to use them. Compostable mail, if left in your backyard, can turn into very fertile soil, so you can grow amazingly beautiful flowers and other plants. Still, compostable mail is still very durable and waterproof, so you don't have to worry about your parcel getting damaged by elements during the postage process!
Compostable mails are also very flexible, so they are perfect for protecting any product you order online, or that you send to someone else.
What are Compostable Mailers Made From?
Compostable mail is made from completely natural materials that are also very sustainable. They are usually made from starch, which is a by-product made from vegetables. When used to make compostable mail, starch provides the durability needed, while also being flexible enough to accommodate different products and objects.
Using starch also means that the packaging degrades very naturally over a period of time. This means that if littering, they don't mess around on the street and quickly turn into soil. This also helps reduce landfills.
How Quickly Do Compostable Mailers Degrade?
Compostable mail typically takes about six months to completely degrade. This means that any packaged item has enough time to safely reach the target destination before the packaging loses quality.
In more commercial composting settings, compostable mail programs may only take 90 days to degrade.
With all this amazing evidence, it's no surprise that compostable mail proves to be the perfect solution to our ecological dilemma. They allow us to still get the convenience of shopping online without having to generate too much waste that can pile up in landfills.
How Much Do Compostable Mailers Cost?
Unfortunately, compostable mail does cost quite a bit of money, both for production and purchase for use. This is because creating materials for mail requires a fairly large process and requires considerable effort to create the finished product.
As a result, the production cost of each mail program is much higher than that of the standard mail program, so most of the cost is borne by the user, and the user may have to pay a fairly high premium to access them.
Unfortunately, it's unclear whether compostable mail will become the standard around the world, especially for large retailers like Amazon, who rely on mail and other forms of packaging.
Are There any Downsides to Compostable Mailers?
Yes. While compostable mail offers some serious benefits for our continued health, they also have certain drawbacks. One of the most notable drawbacks is that compostable mail cannot be biodegraded by marine organisms. What we mean is that in bodies of water like oceans, compostable mail doesn't degrade naturally over time.
In addition to that, unlike some standard paper mail, compostable mail is not recyclable in many cases, so you may need to find other ways to dispose of them in an eco-friendly way. Fortunately, as we've pointed out, you can use them efficiently in the backyard because they degrade faster than standard plastic mail. To Wrap Up
Compostable mail is a true innovation in modern eco-friendly design and engineering. Under the right conditions, they can degrade very quickly and very naturally, which means they don't mess up landfills for generations. In addition to that, compostable mail is still very durable and waterproof, so they still do their job flawlessly without any nasty consequences.
However, for every good innovation made with compostable mail, there are many questions, such as how they cannot degrade in an aquatic environment, or how expensive and cumbersome they are to produce. Our current compostable emails are unlikely to become the industry standard, but who knows what the future holds. For now, this is a good first step.
Are compostable mailers actually good?
Yes. Compostable mail helps to avoid landfill clutter altogether, as they degrade naturally over a period of months. However, so far, they are expensive to manufacture and use, so they have not proven to be a complete alternative to standard modes of transport.
How do you dispose of compostable packaging?
Unfortunately, due to its biodegradable nature, compostable packaging cannot be placed in recycling. You should place compostable packaging in general waste. What compostable means? Compostable items degrade naturally over time, usually quickly, and leave behind non-toxic elements. These elements will be all-natural and, therefore, can be used in the soil to make it more fertile or healthier!
