Bioplastics: Plastics' Greener Cousin

Moreover, a lot of U.S. bioplastic comes from genetically modified plant matter, which is controversial. Future500, a nonprofit that partners with large corporations on sustainability, is partnering with the industry to decrease its reliance on genetically modified crops, among other initiatives. One diaper company, Nature Babycare, uses bioplastic made from corn grown in Italy, which prohibits genetically modified crops.

Critics complain that virtually no public recycling programs accept bottles and other packaging made from these resins, so they mostly wind up in landfills where a lack of oxygen makes them no more biodegradable than regular plastic.

But it's possible that municipalities will take up recycling of these materials as they become more common.

Wade Groetsch, CEO of Noble Juice, which uses Nature Works bottles, told me recently he would like to see these plastics have their own recycling number, which would facilitate recycling.

At the moment they're lumped into the #7 "miscellaneous" category, which contains some controversial materials and is often omitted from public recycling programs.

Widespread public composting is probably farther off, unfortunately.

In the meantime, I want to see for myself how easily these items break down.

I happen to have access to used Nature Babycare diapers (via my daughter) and I recently bought a few bottles of Noble Juice. I plan to toss them in my backyard compost bin this spring to see whether they'll break down and how long it takes. The diapers are supposed to go to pieces in about 40 days and the bottles in about 80.

I'll report back to let you know how it goes and whether you want to try this at home, too.