Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1

Where can I buy your products?

Answer

You can purchase our products online via our our online store or from one of our trusted resellers.

Question 2

Can I put your products in the freezer/microwave/oven?

Answer

You can find product specific information on our product information pages but in general:

Product material	Freezer	Microwave	Oven
PLA	No	No	No
Paper	Yes (short term storage only)	No	No
Sugarcane	Yes (short term storage only)	Yes	No
RPET	Yes (short term storage only)	No	No

Paper and Sugarcane products can go in the freezer, although they are not airtight, so freshness and freezer burn can become issues if left there too long. PLA and RPET can become brittle when frozen, so we don't recommend putting these products in the freezer. While our hot cups, soup cups and some containers are designed for hot foods, they are not designed for the extreme heat of the microwave. Microwaves will cause them to warp, leak or even catch on fire. Unless a disposable product says "microwave safe" on it, it's a good idea to use a glass container to reheat your food instead.

Question 3

Can I eat your PLA products or feed them to my animals?

Answer

No, our products are not edible. They are approved for food contact, but are not considered edible/digestible. Even though many of our products are derived from plants, they are plastic and should not be eaten.

Question 4

Can moulded fibre products handle liquids and grease?

Answer

Lined moulded fibre products will hold liquids well are grease and cut resistant. Unlined moulded fibre works great too, but like paper, it may be more likely to lose strength when used with very hot foods or liquids.

Question 5

Is there a warranty on your products?

Answer

Yes, and it covers manufacturing defects. The Eco-Products warranty does not cover defects attributable to or resulting from normal use, inappropriate storage, shipping or handling. Eco-Products retains the rights to request that product samples, whether damaged or otherwise, to be returned to Eco-Products for inspection prior to replacement or credit.

Question 6

How long does it take your compostable products to break down?

Answer

This is a great question with a complex answer! How long it takes something to break down depends on what kind of material it is (e.g., a piece of paper breaks down much more quickly than a corn cob), what kind of composting technology is used (e.g., a backyard pile overseen by a gardener is very different than a commercial facility with millions of dollars in equipment to manage moisture and temperature), and what climate you’re in (e.g., the dry Arizona desert is very different than the humid Pacific Northwest). Most of the compostable products we make are only compostable in commercial facilities, where temperature, moisture, oxygen, and other factors can be carefully monitored. ASTM D6400 and D6868, the composability standards that BPI’s certification is based on, require 90% of a product to have disintegrated in 12 weeks or 84 days. The testing is Pass / Fail, meaning that products may disintegrate in a significantly shorter timeframe, and we know from extensive field testing that many of ours do.

Question 7

Can I put your compostable products into my backyard compost?

Answer

We’d love for you to try it and see what happens, but we suspect it will take longer than you’d like for most of our products to break down in home or backyard environments. Historically, the challenge for home composability claims has been the lack of a third-party standard, which is not surprising given the wide range of conditions and approaches to present in home composting. Still, there are standards in place in Australia and France that BPI is using to develop a standard that can be certified to in the United States.

Question 8

Are your compostable products marine degradable?

Answer

No, and no other finished items should be claiming marine biodegradability either. TUV offers a material-only certification for marine biodegradability to help in the production of finished items like fishing nets and other goods that are specifically designed for use in ocean environments. That material certification is specifically prohibited from being used on finished items – especially single-use foodservice products – out of the concern that end-users will feel ok discarding these items in the ocean.

Question 9

Are your products recyclable?

Answer

Our BlueStripe™ line contains products made with post-consumer recycled materials. Our BlueStripe™ double wall hot cups are suitable for coffee cup recycling, where available. If there are facilities that recycles PET cups near you then BlueStripe cold cups can be recycled. Recycling rates for specific materials, formats, and shapes can vary from year to year and data set to data set, which makes claims of “recyclable” for many items a moving target.

Our GreenStripe® line contains products made with renewable resources that are designed to be composted in commercial facilities. Many foodservice products are contaminated with food residue, making them a great solution for diverting foodwaste from landfill and into the organics recycling sector.

Question 10

What is the difference between recyclable and recycled?

Answer

These two words often get mixed up, but they are very different.

Recyclable: is it able to be recycled? This refers to an item’s options when it is discarded – can it be reprocessed into a new product?

Recycled content: has it already been recycled? Recycled content is material which was previously recovered from the waste of a different product.

Question 11

Can paper cups go in cup recycling schemes?

Answer

Our paper cups are accepted in The National Cup Recycling Scheme.

Question 12

Do compostable products breakdown in landfills?

Answer

Compostable items are designed and certified to be compostable in environments – namely those present in commercial composting facilities. Microorganisms, carbon, water, oxygen and nitrogen are all necessary for composting to happen, and the right combination of these elements takes significant operational attention to achieve. None of this happens in a landfill environment.

Question 13

Do compostable products make methane if they go into landfills?

Answer

Methane is the result of organic material like food and yard waste breaking down in an anerobic (oxygen depleted) environment, which is common in landfills. Compostable products need a very specific set of conditions to be present, including oxygen, to break down. None of these conditions exist in landfills, and compostable products are not likely to be a source of landfill methane.

Question 14

What does the #7 code on your products mean? What number is used for bioplastics?

Answer

During the manufacturing of PLA, the multiple-stage processing and high heat used to create the polymer removes all traces of genetic material, rendering it inert once it has been made into resin. Therefore, there is no GM material in our products, even though the feedstock may be GM. Nonetheless, we would prefer that only non-GM plants were used to make in the PLA in our products. We recognize the value of sustainable, organic agriculture and follow the debate and the scientific research surrounding GM crops. One day, we hope to bring you exclusively non-GM PLA, but unfortunately the infrastructure is not there yet for us – or our industry

Question 15

Do your products contain BPA?

Answer

No. Our products are BPA free. The cups and containers we sell are not made from plastics where there is a BPA risk. Most of our plastic products are made with PLA, a plant-based plastic. We're happy to provide verification or more information.

Question 16

Are your products gluten free? Do they contain any allergens?

Answer

We do not intentionally add the following major food allergens as components of our products and to the best of our knowledge, these materials are not present as intentional components in the raw materials used in the manufacturing of our products: milk, egg, fish, crustacean’s shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, soy, peanuts, sunflower seeds, or any meat derived products such as beef or pork.

Question 17

What is PLA?

Answer

PLA or "corn plastic" is a biopolymer made from polylactic acid (PLA) that can be derived from starchy plants like corn, potatoes, tapioca, sugarcane, and soy protein. PLA is typically made from corn kernels that are milled and processed to extract the starch which is then converted into plastic.

Question 18

Is PLA or corn plastic edible?

Answer

PLA is approved for food contact and well-suited for a variety of packaging applications, but it is not recommended for human or animal consumption.

Question 19

What if I am allergic to corn?

Answer

While PLA is a corn-derived plastic, the extreme heat used in processing transforms it considerably and destroys any immunologically reactive profilin. Because of this, PLA should not cause an allergic reaction.

Question 20

Do you use genetically modified (GM) corn in your products?

Answer

During the manufacturing of PLA, the multiple-stage processing and high heat used to create the polymer removes all traces of genetic material, rendering it inert once it has been made into resin. Therefore, there is no GM material in our products, even though the feedstock may be GM. Nonetheless, we would prefer that only non-GM plants were used to make in the PLA in our products. We recognize the value of sustainable, organic agriculture and follow the debate and the scientific research surrounding GM crops. One day, we hope to bring you exclusively non-GM PLA, but unfortunately the infrastructure is not there yet for us – or our industry. If GMOs are a concern for you, we offer our BlueStripe line of products made with post-consumer recycled content, such as recycled paper, PET, and polystyrene. These products do not contain any plant-based/GM material and perform very well.

Question 21

Because PLA is made from inputs such as corn and sugar, do your PLA products take away from the food supply?

Answer

Currently, our major supplier of PLA uses the dextrose made from No. 2 yellow dent corn – the most abundant and cheapest source of a fermentable sugar available in the U.S. Less than one percent of the available U.S. corn crop is used for this purpose. In addition, only part of the corn kernel is used to make PLA. Other parts are used to make ingredients for salad dressing, snack foods, pet feed, and more, thereby allowing a single kernel of corn to produce both PLA and food products. We also source some PLA that is made from sugar. While we are not aware of any concerns about sugar-derived PLA taking away from the food supply, we are actively working to better understand the environmental and social issues related to our sugarcane supply chain.

Question 22

Will PLA melt in extreme heat?

Answer

Yes. We recommend that our PLA containers be stored at temperatures less than 40°C. Remember to keep these products out of direct sunlight and in a cool, dry place.

Question 23

What are Sugarcane and Bamboo?

Answer

Sugarcane is a renewable, plant-based resource that is grown primarily for cane juice extraction. Once the juice is extracted, the remaining sugarcane fiber, known as bagasse, is commonly incinerated or discarded. By using bagasse as a material input for our molded fiber products, we are helping to promote the reclamation of this versatile, renewable resource.   Bamboo is the fastest growing plant in the world and is considered a rapidly renewable resource with many climate benefits. Many bamboo species sequester more carbon than their tree counterparts and reintroduce more oxygen to the atmosphere.

According to Project Drawdown, bamboo rapidly sequesters carbon in biomass and soil and can thrive on degraded lands.  Since bamboo grows from its own root system, it does not require an ecosystem-disturbing replanting process and is naturally renewable. This helps the soil remain undisturbed, which aids in water retention and preventing soil erosion. It can also provide economic benefits to its farmers, as it can be grown on land that may not be suitable for other agricultural purposes, due to its versatility. Bamboo can be composted at the end of its life.  We use sugarcane and bamboo in our broad array of GreenStripe® molded fiber products including plates, bowls, and trays.

Question 24

Are your molded fiber products GMO free?

Answer

No. Our sugarcane products are not GMO free. This would require sourcing only certified organic sugarcane. Since the sugarcane used in our products is grown in Asia and is not certified USDA organic, we cannot assure that it is free of GMO material.

Question 25

Are your molded fiber products bleached with chlorine?

Answer

We whiten our bagasse with a process that uses chlorine dioxide, but not elemental chlorine. Elemental chlorine (Cl2) generates compounds called dioxins, which are very bad for human health. Chlorine dioxide (ClO2) (used in our whitening process) does not generate dioxins and is thus the better choice.

Question 26

What is RPET(Post-Consumer Reycled Polyethylene Terephalate (PET))?

Answer

PET is one of the most common plastics in the world. You have probably seen this plastic in your soda and water bottles that are marked with the resin code #1. PET is petroleum-based and is one of the most commonly recycled plastics – particularly when it is in bottle form. Post-consumer recycled PET (rPET) provides a new life to plastics that would have otherwise gone to a landfill, while also creating opportunities for other products to be made from a post-consumer resource. We use the highest amount of rPET that we possibly can in the different products we make from this material. Fewer virgin traditional PET + more post-consumer recycled PET = a lower product carbon footprint potential and supports a more circular approach to resource use. We use post-consumer recycled PET (rPET) in our BlueStripe cold cups and lids, as well as in many of the lids that go on molded fiber bases. NONE of these items are compostable.

Question 27

Is your rPET pre- or post-consumer recycled?

Answer

We use post-consumer recycled PET plastic in our cups and containers. That way the recycled resin, rPET, becomes more accepted and valuable as people see how easy it is to include in regular items.

Question 28

How do you certify your compostable products?

Answer

We certify our products using recognised certifying bodies such as Din Certco and TUV for either industrial or home composting. The most widely used compostability standards are the European EN13432 and the American ASTM D6400. They are largely equivalent, and include the following elements:

Biodegradation – materials turn to soil through microbial action at the same rate as cellulose (paper)
Disintegration – the materials fall into small pieces
Eco-toxicity – seeds can germinate in the resulting compost – i.e. it is useful for plant growth
Heavy metals – the compost is safe to go onto land

Question 29

Where is Eco-Products located?

Answer

We are based in Edinburgh with locations in Rotterdam and Boulder, Colorado.

Question 30

How long has Eco-Products been in business?

Answer

Eco-Products, Inc. has been in business since 1990.

Question 31

Does Eco-Products carry every compostable food service product available?

Answer

Although we are confident that we have the widest selection of compostable food service products available, we do not claim that we carry every compostable food service product that is made. Technology for compostable products is improving everyday. We try to keep up with all of the latest innovations and we are open to carrying any product that meets our product qualifications.