How to Dispose of Compostable Packaging

If you are holding compostable packaging and wondering where it goes, start with the instructions or certification on the exact item.

If it is confirmed home compostable, home composting may be appropriate. If it is industrial or commercially compostable only, it needs a suitable commercial composting or organics pathway that explicitly accepts that packaging.

Do not assume compostable packaging belongs in conventional recycling, and do not assume a local food-waste, green-bin, FOGO or organics service accepts it simply because it is certified compostable.

If you cannot confirm an accepted composting or organics pathway, place the packaging in general or residual waste.

Zero Pack packaging marketed and sold as compostable is certified compostable packaging, but the exact certification and disposal pathway can vary by material and product.

Look for the disposal instructions or certification that applies to the item you have.

The most important distinction is whether the packaging is:

• home compostable; or

• industrial/commercially compostable.

Those pathways are not interchangeable.

A certification tells you what composting conditions the applicable packaging has been tested for. It does not automatically tell you whether your local council, municipal collection, organics service or composting facility accepts that item.

If the exact item is confirmed as home compostable, it is designed for a properly managed home-compost environment under the conditions covered by its certification or product instructions.

Before adding it to your compost:

• check that the item itself is confirmed home compostable;

• remove labels, tape or other attachments if they are not part of the compostable packaging or if the product instructions tell you to remove them;

• For larger flexible pieces, tearing or cutting them into smaller pieces can help them break down more readily in a home compost system. This does not change the compostability classification or replace the product’s disposal instructions.

• place the confirmed home-compostable material into an active, well-managed home-compost system.

Home compost conditions vary. Temperature, moisture, aeration, compost activity, climate and the size of the item can all affect how quickly material breaks down.

For that reason, there is no single decomposition timeframe that should be applied to every home compost system or every piece of compostable packaging.

Packaging certified only for industrial or commercial composting should not be put into a home compost system unless the exact product instructions also confirm home compostability.

Industrial composting uses managed processing conditions that differ from a typical home compost system.

Likewise, evidence for a home-compostable product should not be applied automatically to another packaging product with a different material, thickness, construction or certification.

If you want a deeper explanation of the two pathways, read:

Home Compostable vs Industrial Compostable Packaging

Sometimes, but only where the local service explicitly accepts that packaging.

Rules for food-waste collections, FOGO, green bins, organics bins and commercial composting services vary substantially between locations.

A product being certified compostable does not guarantee that your local collection system accepts it.

Local services may have different rules because of processing technology, contamination controls, collection systems, contracts or the type of composting facility they use.

Before placing compostable packaging into a local organics collection, check the current guidance for that specific service and make sure it accepts the relevant packaging item.

If the local guidance mentions only food scraps, garden organics or specific certified caddy liners, do not assume that other compostable packaging is also accepted.

Do not put compostable packaging into conventional plastic recycling unless a verified local recycling program explicitly says it accepts that exact item.

“Compostable” and “recyclable” describe different end-of-life pathways.

Putting an item into recycling because it looks or feels similar to conventional plastic can contaminate a recycling stream where that material is not accepted.

If your local recycling provider does not specifically accept the compostable packaging you have, keep it out of conventional recycling.

For more on the difference between environmental terms, read:

Compostable vs Biodegradable Packaging: What the Difference Actually Means

If you are uncertain, use this rule:

Do not put compostable packaging into recycling or an organics collection unless your local service says it accepts it.

If you cannot confirm an accepted home-composting, commercial-composting or organics pathway for the item, place it in general or residual waste.

That may feel counter-intuitive, but it is better than putting the packaging into a collection stream where it is not accepted.

Waste and organics systems differ between countries, states, regions and individual councils or municipalities.

That is why this GLOBAL guide gives you the decision process rather than pretending there is one disposal bin that works everywhere.

Where Zero Pack has a specific governed disposal guide for your market, use that local guidance as well. If no regional disposal guide exists, stay with this GLOBAL guidance and check the rules of your local waste or organics service.

Do not rely on location assumptions alone when deciding where packaging belongs. The actual local collection rules are what matter.

Before you throw away compostable packaging, ask:

1. What does the exact packaging instruction or certification say?

2. Is it home compostable or industrial/commercially compostable?

3. Does my local organics or composting service explicitly accept this type of packaging?

4. Does my local recycling service explicitly accept this exact item?

5. If I cannot confirm an accepted composting or organics route, have I kept it out of recycling and organics and used general/residual waste instead?

Following those steps helps keep the disposal instruction matched to the packaging you actually have and the waste system available where you live.

Zero Pack packaging sold as compostable is certified compostable packaging.

The exact certification can vary by packaging type, material and product specification, so use the instructions and certification that apply to the exact packaging in your hands rather than assuming every product follows the same composting pathway.

If you received a Zero Pack mailer and want to understand the difference between home and industrial compostability, the explainer above is the best next read.

For businesses looking for custom compostable mailers:

Custom compostable mailers

Australasian Bioplastics Association — Home Compostable Verification Programme

Australasian Bioplastics Association — Certification

Australasian Bioplastics Association — Commercial Compostable Verification Programme

TÜV Austria — OK compost HOME

TÜV Austria — OK compost INDUSTRIAL

BPI — Compostability Certification

UK Environment Agency / GOV.UK — Compost from waste: resource framework

NSW EPA — What can and can’t go in your FOGO bin

Oxford City Council — Food waste

Waste Authority WA — Towards cleaner compost

US FTC — Environmental Claims: Summary of the Green Guides