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Compostable bags

Posted: Sun May 12, 2019 7:45 pm
by Boudicca21
I was digging through the wormery, as one does, when I came across a plastic bag. Took me a while to realise it was the ghost of a compostable bag. So the question is: should I be using compostable bags in the wormery at all? Will they eventually degrade and get eaten, or not?

Re: Compostable bags

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 7:59 am
by WillyWorm
I think they will eventually breakdown. I don’t use them and would treat them like any other plastic ):

Re: Compostable bags

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 9:50 am
by Boudicca21
Ta. The more I think about the more I am sure that bag must have been in the wormery for six months or more. And all that’s happened in the way of breaking down is that it looks like any old plastic bag. Maybe it needs the heat of a proper compost heap to break down properly, but its continued existence is a bit scary. I think I’ll use paper in future!

Re: Compostable bags

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 6:42 pm
by Smallthings
Hi, just to add to this - before I got the wormery I was composting only in a normal 'Dalek' style bin and using compostable bags to hold my waste in our little indoor caddy until ready to put out (the compostable bags were those small green bags specifically designed for this). It was only when I decided to relocate the Dalek bin and started emptying it that I discovered just how long it was taking these green bags to break down, right deep inside. There was so much of the stuff, going back perhaps as long as a year and although softer and starting to degrade (some just left in shreds) , it does seem they take an awfully long time, even given the higher temperatures and much greater depth of such a large bin plus healthy population of natural worms and creatures that find their way in. So I'm no longer using/buying them, and if anything comes wrapped in one, I've been put them in our recycling bin for the council. I'm glad they're replacing plastic ones but I think the time they take to degrade is something to consider!

Re: Compostable bags

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 10:32 pm
by WillyWorm
I use newspaper to line my caddie, this quickly breaks down in the wormery and I only need to give the caddie a quick wash between fillings.