TIL: OK Compost

Hello fellow enviros! Today I thought I would share about my first encounter with new packaging that says, "Hi, I'm 100% compostable."

So apparently this started in Austria from what I could gather searching online, and it's really rather great because it tells you precisely where you can (or can't) dispose of it.

I had two of these that I had set aside to cut up and add to the compost bin, but then I realized they said two different things, and so I began searching. The one I had already cut up was a plastic mailer that said "OK Compost HOME" - so I could put it in my bin on the balcony.

But the second one just said "OK Compost," and indeed, this means it is only compostable in an industrial compost.

Usually this means it requires higher temperatures to break down, as industrial compost can get a lot hotter than home compost. The cleaning tablets I get from Blueland, where I just drop a tablet into warm water in a reusable spray bottle to make cleaner, come in little wrappers that are the same way.

So, I cut up the one that said home for the compost bin, but put the other one in my reuse pile, since I don't have access to industrial compost yet. My city did vote on a law requiring apartments and workplaces to provide compost and it passed, but it's not enforceable yet so we might not be getting compost in my building for another year or something as the deadline approaches. Currently, it's only mandated for single family homes and I think smaller attached homes like duplexes and triplexes.

So if you see the "OK Compost" label, know that home compostable will say home, and if it doesn't, then it's industrial compost. :)

Have a great day!