Can you eat potato starch magazine envelopes?

[Kim]

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.

Quite.  Externalised costs.

[TPMB12]

My magazine subscription comes in paper. I get several other mailings in paper. Paper is really easy to print on so surely that's not an issue.  Mailings are usually in weight bands and volumetric weight , bands.  The difference between plastic film and paper is highly unlikely to b save money.  More likely excessive promotional leaflets would have a greater effect but they never get left out ime.

[citoyen]

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...

A biologist of my acquaintance regards honey bees as livestock.

[ElyDave]

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.

There is a massive difference between those early (petrochem) plastic bags that simply broke down under UV into smaller plastic fragments and the modern starch based polymers. The starch based polymers are more like paper  or perhaps cellophane.  I used to work for British Cellophane, essentially see-through paper, and we did a lot of composting trials that had it compost very effectively in commercial heaps

[TheLurker]

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.

So, going back to the OP's question, it seems the answer is, "Yes, eventually*."


*How "eventually" depends on the efficacy of the composting process and whether or not you choose to use the compost to (help) grow food.

[ian]

I'm not clear what the starch is - I presume some kind of complex amyloid, but there are also biodegradable polymers based on acetic and other short-chain simple acids. They might not degrade quickly, but there's a difference between a couple of years and tens of thousands if not longer, plus the results are unlikely to be toxic. I don't think you're supposed to eat them, but I'd imagine it's less of a chore than baked pitta chips.

[TPMB12]

We use starch based plastic at work, supposedly the kind that does compost our biodegrade. It's used for some parts we don't make very often. When we had to make some parts with this tear material one time we found that it had been stores where there had been a leaky roof such that it had been sitting in water. We'd not used it for a year or so but the plastic showed no sign of degrading. I think it's a cassava derived starch made by a French company that aiui was one of the early players in this field.

In our case it was only a carrier for its contents,  kind of like similar packaging used to hold soft fruits in supermarkets. In use the starch is expected to be burnt off but in case any got left it was considered important by our customer that any of the plastic left on disposal would eventually degrade. Most applications got switched away from using any plastics at all of it was possible. I do think that's the better option even with biodegradable and compostable plastics.

[ElyDave]

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.

So, going back to the OP's question, it seems the answer is, "Yes, eventually*."


*How "eventually" depends on the efficacy of the composting process and whether or not you choose to use the compost to (help) grow food.

Oy, I do not resemble that remark