Compostable Bags and Mailing Satchels

Biogone’s range of home compostable and landfill-biodegradable mailing bags are the best solution for single-use mailing and postal satchels. Our bags offer a solution to reducing eCommerce plastic waste and once disposed of in your general household waste bin (destined for landfill), completely biodegrade. Also, our home compostable mailing bags are designed so once done with them you can dispose of them in home compost (once the label has been removed). Both options come in multiple sizes.

 

What is the difference between commercial vs home compostable mailing satchels?

When it comes to compostable plastics, the two main choices currently in Australia are:
  • Home compostable
  • Commercial compostable
 

Home compostable mailing satchels

Home compostable plastics have an extra component in them, PBAT, which is a highly biodegradable material. This allows home compostable products to biodegrade in cooler temperatures such as home compost bins or landfills. Their biodegradation rates are longer than commercial compost facilities but still relatively fast being several months up to 1-2 years depending on the plastic thickness. Biogone’s home compostable mailing satchels are also made with plant-based material and will biodegrade in home compost, commercial compost facility (if the waste stream is available) or landfill. They are certified in accordance with Australian/NZ standard AS5810, which means it has been approved by the Australasian Bioplastics Association, the governing body for verifying Compostable products in Australia.

Commercial compostable mailing satchels

There are several limitations for commercial compostable plastics (AS4736) for the following reasons:
  • For a compostable plastic to biodegrade it must be in a commercial compost facility with temperatures of 60 deg C, plenty of oxygen and good moisture levels. If those conditions are not met, the compostable plastic will not biodegrade as the microorganisms need those conditions to live.
  • Due to their different composition, compostable plastics cannot be recycled in the mainstream soft plastics. Their materials have different properties and would contaminate other conventional plastics if they were mixed together. If they cannot be delivered to a commercial compost facility, they need to go to a landfill.
  • There are no separate recycling facilities that will sort out the compostable plastic from other plastic waste. This means by default a compostable plastic will generally go to a landfill where it will not biodegrade.
  • There are very few commercial compost facilities in Australia, making it very unlikely that commercially compostable plastic will ever be transported there.
  • When a commercially compostable plastic biodegrades its gaseous by-product is CO2, which cannot be used for energy capture methods to generate green electricity (as opposed to the CH4 generated from landfill-biodegradable plastics).
 

What are landfill-biodegradable mailing satchels?

Biogone’s landfill-biodegradable plastic technology is relatively new to Australia, however is currently being used across 25 countries. The mailing satchels are made by combining traditional plastic with an organic additive. This makes the satchels:
  • Strong and durable like conventional mailing satchels
  • Reusable and recyclable.
  • Biodegrade approx. 90+% faster than conventional plastics.
  • Biodegrade to a humus-like material (organic matter) which is a natural plant fertiliser and a biogas.
  • Do not fragment to microplastics.
The benefit to this technology is the methane produced from accelerated landfill-biodegradable plastics can be captured within the time frame the landfill is actively managed, rather than being released into the atmosphere over hundreds of years after the landfill has closed and stopped being managed. This captured methane can be used for fuel and energy production. Read more about the technology on landfill-biodegradable FAQs.  

Are our landfill-biodegradable mailing bags ‘degradable’?

Biogone does not supply ‘degradable’ plastic bags (sometimes called ‘oxo-degradable). Please refer to our landfill-biodegradable FAQs for more information. What are ‘degradable’ plastics? Degradable plastic is one that contains an additive to make it break up and fragment into lots of little pieces of plastic over 12-18 months.  We believe this is actually worse for the environment. They are not recyclable with other plastics either. Unlike traditional plastics that have a long lifespan, our proprietary additive makes our disposable products biodegrade over a few years when disposed of in a landfill.  
  No plastic is good for the oceans - make sure you dispose of it responsibly.

Title

Go to Top