Can you eat potato starch magazine envelopes?

[chrisbainbridge]

So many magazines and other pieces of paper are now coming in envelopes or pockets said to be made from potato starch and compostable that wondered if one could just eat them?

[ElyDave]

probably if you fried them first, add a bit of cheese, and they'd probably taste a bit like quavers

[hellymedic]

Why don't you chew one to see what happens?

I use my magazine wrappers as bags for veg peelings, then place these in the food waste caddy for the council to collect.

[rogerzilla]

Sunlit uplands.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Are they 100% potato starch or is it mixed with other things and if so what?

[hellymedic]

Pure potato starch wouldn't work as a bag. It's a white powder you can use in cooking, like cornflour so it MUST have additives for it to function.

[Mrs Pingu]

Hmm. Just because something is biodegradable doesn't mean you should eat it...

[hellymedic]

Wot, like poo?

[ian]

Amylase will break down most non complex starches. So you just chew it to oblivion.

[Wowbagger]

My experience of these bags spending several months in an active compost heap is that they are still recognisable at the end of the process. OK, they have begun to disintegrate, but they certainly haven't broken down completely. Even tough stuff like orange peel and old cabbage stalks will have been broken down by the process, but the bags supplied by Waitrose and Riverford are made of sterner stuff. When I find them I put them back into my current compost heap for another bash.

If my slugs won't eat them, then I'm damned if I will.

[hellymedic]

Compostable bags start breaking down after a few days in the kitchen. They get holes and leak/tear.

As Wow says, they don't fully break down for AGES.

[Jaded]

They break down into tiny pieces, which stick around.

The answer to the OP is that you can eat anything.

Some things are nutritious and good for you, some neutral, some indigestible, and some poisonous.

[TheLurker]

If my slugs won't eat them, then I'm damned if I will.

Possibly the wisest thing anyone has said on the internet, ever.

However, can one own slugs?  They always strike me as being quite independently minded, awkward little sods.

[ElyDave]

Mine go in the compost as well, two large heaps, sequence being fill for a year, turn into the next heap & grow squashes in the summer, turn out onto the garden in late autumn or early spring. The bags have generally gone by then.

[tom_e]

Our local council say they don't break down in their large-scale composting process, so can't go in the green bin.  And they ain't recyclable so can't go in the blue bin either, they says.  So not very impressed when we receive them instead of paper.

I'm going to think of this and be tempted to try a nibble next time one arrives.

[Mr Larrington]

Sunlit uplands.

Adequate food.

[T42]

Sunlit uplands.

Adequate food.

'Ware sheepshit.

[neilrj]

I think I read that "compostible packaging" needed hot composting (bio-reactor?) rather than cold compostible - which is normal method and actually a mad hot steaming compost heap... If council take cooked food waste (most don't) then it's  sealed bio-reactor and will consume plastic like bags.

[tom_e]

I think I read that "compostible packaging" needed hot composting (bio-reactor?) rather than cold compostible - which is normal method and actually a mad hot steaming compost heap... If council take cooked food waste (most don't) then it's  sealed bio-reactor and will consume plastic like bags.

According to South Cambs council, it's the opposite of that.  They use a fast composting process and take cooked food.  But explicitly say the starch based packaging doesn't break down fast enough for this.

I note ElyDave above says that slow home composting seems to be ok with it, which is consistent with our council, although it seems counterintuitive.  Could try that instead of the nibble option.

[T42]

Google sez: "Potato starch packaging is derived from food industry waste, meaning you don't need to grow a crop specifically to make it. And the energy used to manufacture it is less than that used to manufacture plastics. It contains no oil-based materials, plastics or harmful toxins, and it's 100% compostable and biodegradable."

They don't say anything about the ink, though.

[TPMB12]

It is still a polymer / plastic material. As such if it isn't fully composted it's still a plastic material in the environment which can't be that great.

IMHO it seems more like greenwashing plastics.  What is wrong with using paper packaging for letters and magazines? There's a widely used invention that's perfectly suited,  indeed designed for this job.  It's called an envelope and is made in easily broken down paper. Get it from sustainably sourced wood and it's probably a lot better option.

I never understand why any company would want to post stuff or using plastics in this modern age.  Even plastics that are compostable or biodegradable is a plastic hazard in the environment unless treated under specific conditions to break down into safe components. A few years ago I read a technical research paper from iirc  the EU on biodegradable plastic bags. They were tested after a year of exposure in air,  fresh water,  seawater and earth (different samples and control samples no doubt). After a year all bags were capable of holding a representative shopping load. Not one had even degraded enough to weaken! That was a few years back and probably the technology has improved but Istill think best avoid.

As to OP's question, it will compost or the manufacturers would not be able to sell it as such but that is not the same as being edible.  Potato starch is used as the feed raw material but the end product is in no way the same material at the end.  It is a purely chemical process which means you're thinking of eating a chemical that is a plastic polymer. It is not food and not to be recommended IMHO.  However I am not a expert in what can be eaten safely. I did get a materials science education and that makes me think I'd not eat it and indeed prefer it not to be used unless truly necessary.

[Wowbagger]

If my slugs won't eat them, then I'm damned if I will.

Possibly the wisest thing anyone has said on the internet, ever.

However, can one own slugs?  They always strike me as being quite independently minded, awkward little sods.

Well, do beekeepers own bees? They are wild creatures for whom he/she provides suitable accommodation. Just regard my compost bin as a slug-hive...

[Cudzoziemiec]

If my slugs won't eat them, then I'm damned if I will.

Possibly the wisest thing anyone has said on the internet, ever.

However, can one own slugs?  They always strike me as being quite independently minded, awkward little sods.

Well, do beekeepers own bees? They are wild creatures for whom he/she provides suitable accommodation. Just regard my compost bin as a slug-hive...

One way of thinking of it would be this: dogkeepers own dogs, farmers own cows and sheep. Dogs, cows, sheep and bees are all bought and sold or otherwise traded. Has anyone ever bought and sold slugs?

[TPMB12]

African snails for pets.  Slugs are just homeless snails, right? 😂

[hellymedic]

I never understand why any company would want to post stuff or using plastics in this modern age.  Even plastics that are compostable or biodegradable is a plastic hazard in the environment unless treated under specific conditions to break down into safe components.

'Film' type magazine wrappers are translucent enough to make labelling unnecessary. They also weigh MUCH less than paper wrappers, which helps ecomise with postage.