BioBag Blog

Cling wrap update

Thu, 17 May 2012 08:46:00 GMT

Great feedback on the re-released cling film! We've increased the 'tack' so it works really well. We're getting more an more commercial users. We'd like feedback on preference for a longer roll. Let us know!

Cling wrap Back in Stock!!

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 06:47:00 GMT

We're delighted to have stocks of cling wrap back in Stock and supplies of catering film in widths of 290 mm and 440 mm.

The cling properties are even better than before and all without any additives!. It's fully compostable and completely safe. Many foods keep longer under BioBag Cling Film. Try it and see for yourself.

Better Products Better Value = Affordable Compostable Bin Liners

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:43:00 GMT

We've just been checking other prices for compostable liners. BioBag liners are up to 55% cheaper on bulk purchases. Add to that the technical superiority of advanced MaterBi materials (that means excellent strength) and the answers obvious.

Revolutionary NEW Compostable Cling Wrap

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 06:52:00 GMT

The new cling wrap is being really well received. Many of us feel uncomfortable using conventional films and love the idea of a biobased product. Even better is that it works really well!

View full details here >>>

Where to buy in Ballina

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:27:00 GMT

BioBag fans looking for MaxAir bins (clearly the people’s choice over the closed bins) and supplies of bags can now pop into their local store.
Thanks to Ballina Council for the great initiative.

Our latest stockist is:
Ritchies Supa IGA
44 Pacific Highway,
Ballina, NSW, 2478.
02 6686 4999

which joins
Envirogreen Australia

Shed 2, 23 North Creek Road
Ballina 2478.
info@envirogreenaustralia.com.au
Tel 02 6681 1532
M 0410 511 645 F 02 6681 4737
Open from 9 - 2.

which joins
NOURISH all of you
2/28 Cherry Street
Ballina NSW 2478
Ph/fax: 02 66868955
Mob: 0402840944
contact@nourishallofyou.com.au

Both these great stockists carry a range of BioBag products

Yes - but what did they really say?

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:15:00 GMT

The City to Soil program follow up shows how our MaxAir system has been enthusiastically embraced by householders across the community in Goulburn and Condobolin!

What MaxAir users have said:

"Better than what we had before, garbage doesn't stink like it normally used to."

"Put in your own worm farm if you wanted to, and it would decompose itself, it keeps the flies away... doesn't attract any cockroaches or anything to the bench top cause its nicely sealed."

Northern Tasmania chooses BioBag

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 06:46:00 GMT

BioBag compostable bags have been chosen again.

A recent waste audit conducted in the North and North West of Tasmania indicated that approximately 56% of waste generated by households is organic. This represents about 34,597 tonnes of organic waste going to landfills each year. Northern Tasmanian Waste Management Group (NTWMG) and the Cradle Coast Waste Management Group (CCWMG) have decided to take action on the amount of organic waste entering the landfills Three municipalities in the region were chosen to participate in the kerbside organics recycling trial - Meander Valley Council, Latrobe Council and West Tamar Council. There will be approximately 250 households participating from each council for the six-month trial. They will receive a letter explaining the trial and giving the resident an option to opt out if they do not wish to participate. Each household will receive a 240L wheelie bin and kitchen caddy with BioBag composstable and biodegradable bags for the organic materials to be deposited. The trial will commence in June 2011. Once it has been commissioned the organic materials collected will be taken to the Dulverton Organics Recycling Facility and the Launceston Waste Centre where they will be composted in open windrows.

Our Beliefs

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:14:00 GMT

You're not going to get a lot of technical rhetoric here, just some observations based on a few facts and a little common sense.

We have developed an alternative to polyethylene/polypropylene based plastic bags. Our products are made primarily from substances obtained from plants such as cornstarch, vegetable oils and compostable polymers from both renewable raw materials and fossil raw materials. Our bags and films are certified compostable. Conventional plastic bags take a lifetime, often over 100 years, to begin to degrade. Regular polyethylene/polypropylene based plastic cannot be composted. Less than 2% of plastic bags ever get recycled and those that are seldom ever become plastic bags again. Plastic bags litter our streets and waterways.

However, we are not at total odds with the plastic industry. We understand how this industry blossomed as an alternative solution to products made from metal and wood. Plastic was cheaper, lighter, easier to mould and rust resistant. Plastic was also durable and long lasting. It was never meant to "go away." The plastic industry is very good at producing things that are meant to last.

Obviously, plastic bags never fit the intent of plastic usage. They are supposed to be "disposable". They don't need a life span of more than a year, two at the most. It's sad that the plastic industry has spent more on their image than on the problem. Plastic bags remain inexpensive only because the manufacturer's responsibility ends at point of purchase. The rest of the bill is picked up by you and me in our tax payments.

Some plastic manufacturers are now producing blends of polyethylene and additives that help the bags break down a little faster, but the process leaves pieces of plastic debris that are not biodegradable to AS4736-2006 and do not compost. In our view, the claim of biodegradability offered by these products is misleading to many consumers and a weak attempt to find compromise with nature.

We believe there is no compromise. We believe we have found the answer. With your support, we can achieve our mission of being the product of choice for organic waste disposal. We can change the world, without changing the earth.

Sincerely,

BioBag Sales Team

The importance of choosing the correct compostable biodegradable bag

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:14:00 GMT

It goes without saying that the bag chosen should be compostable to standard. Bags that meet AS4736 or the European Standard EN13432 on which AS4736 was based will compost in industrial composting conditions. This is not just theoretical as countless millions of compliant bags have been composted in facilities all round the world from N America, through Europe and Australia. Where there have been reports of difficulties this is a reflection of the method employed.

Where there are differences is in strength and breathability. Quite a number of bags use older technology, which means that they are compostable but are more susceptible to tearing and failure. More modern materials are very strong even down to a low gauge. Quite a number of materials are based on genetically modified corn. Wholly petroleum based materials will have a very low WVTR (water vapor transmission rate). The higher the WVTR, the more breathable the material and the less smell. Also thinner materials will generally have a higher WVTR.

It is worth noting that compostable shopping bags will have a lower WVTR than bags designed specifically for composting. This is because they will be thicker and probably made of a tougher grade of material designed to be stronger. This strength is usually achieved at the expense of breathability. The outcome is that while compostable shopping bags will breakdown in industrial composting they will take longer than composting bags and there will be more smell even if used in ventilated bins because the breathability will be significantly lower.

Education

It is a vitally important element in establishing an effective system. There are some excellent examples from South Australia and City to Soil.

BioBag helps out in Brisbane

BioBag shipped compostable bags to Brisbane at the request of volunteers ho wanted to minimize adverse impacts from using plastic bags in the clean up.

Keeping it Clean

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:14:00 GMT

by Simone Dilkara - Groundswell
There is no doubt that physical contamination of organic waste directly impacts on the cost of processing and the value of the end product. But how do we successfully engage the whole community in organics collections? How do we get universal participation while keeping glass, metal and plastics out of the organic waste stream?

With almost universal participation and contamination rates around 0.2% the systems for collection established by Goulburn Mulwaree Council and Lachlan Council as part of the Groundswell City to Soil project are leading the way in source separation of household organics. The community engagement strategy adopted by the councils is simple, cheap and effective however it does challenge entrenched approaches to waste education and the usual way of doing things.

The two councils have been providing a combined food scrap and garden waste collection to 10,800 households for almost 16 months as part of the Groundswell City to Soil project funded by the NSW Environmental Trust. The Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Inside Waste highlighted the low contamination rates achieved by householders in the project. Contamination rates have ranged between 0.076%, 0.4% and 0.2% over the past 16 months and have never exceeded 0.4%.

The Groundswell City to Soil community engagement program is based on the assumption that to get people to do something, you need to give them the right tools, information and motivation.

Right Tools.

Fundamentally we need to make it easy for people to do what we want them to do. The challenge here is to find tools that are universally desirable to use.

More importantly, the tools need to pass the “75 year old mother” test. Basically, if you can’t get your granny to use the tools, then you haven’t got the right tools. One of the main reasons why people don’t compost is they don’t like that smelly kitchen bucket. So we need a system that does not produce odours and does not need washing. People are used to placing food scraps into plastic bags, tying them up and placing them in a wheelie bin. So it makes sense to replicate these existing behaviours.

The best tools we could find are vented kitchen bins and compostable bags. They work because they emulate and improve on what people are doing already. Compostable bags improve on the existing system because they eliminate odours in the kitchen AND in the wheelie bin. And yes, my 75 year old mother happily uses her vented bin and compostable bags to this day.

Right information.

Information about the collection needs to be provided in ways that reach everyone in the community regardless of literacy. We need to let people know exactly what we want them to do and why we want them to do it. Thought needs to be given to the tone of information as well as graphics and medium.

The Groundswell project has developed humble two colour graphics in preference to glossy photos and kept information relentlessly upbeat and as simple and inclusive as possible. Pictures of specific people with specific kitchens and food scraps will alienate anyone who can not relate to that image.

Rather than worry about multi lingual brochures, information about City to Soil has included drawings which explain what we want without the need for words or literacy. The project has purposefully chosen cheap or free forms of media including council mail outs, press releases, updates in rates notices, word of mouth, a blog and steered clear of glossy advertisements to maintain the simplicity and “normalness” of the collection.

A word about integrity

Our simple, constant message is “if you put your food and garden waste into this bin, we will compost it and get it back into agriculture.” It is a simple and powerful message.

The result is people KNOW that everything they put in the City to Soil bin is going to end up on a local farmer’s paddock. The collection becomes about food and food production rather than waste and garbage.

For this message to work however, you need to convince the community that this is what you are doing . You need to show them the compost and show them the occasional farmer and the occasional load of compost made from their food and garden waste being applied to a paddock.

A photo of one of the more photogenic of your customers preferably out in the paddock with some rolling hills, a truck full of beautiful compost, a few sheep and a short press release with a nice juicy quote from the farmers saying how wonderful the community is and how lovely the compost is, is always a winner.

Motivation.

What gets people to source separate their organics? Why would people do this? For me this is the most interesting and contested area of the waste industry. I strongly believe that councils, waste companies and the government consistently underestimate the community. People assume that universal participation is unachievable and as a result design non compliance into their systems.

Obviously there is no single universal motivator to get people to correctly source separate. Our research showed that there were actually six. Specifically we trawled through the NSW DECCW “Who Cares about the Environment” research and found that there were 6 reasons why people might participate and different people would respond to one, some or all of those six.

The six motivators are:

Help address climate change
Reduce waste to landfill
Reduce waste costs
Improve agricultural soils
Support local farmers
Win prizes

By consciously using combinations of all six motivators in media releases, article and letters, we are able to reach the whole community. For example, someone who has no interest in climate change may be motivated by the prospect of reduced waste costs or reduced waste to landfill.

The purpose of running a prize program for zero contamination is to reward people for doing the right thing, generate positive messages about the program, generate community conversations and to reinforce the message that City to Soil is about food production rather than waste or garbage. Wherever possible, take a photo when presenting the prizes and get a short quote from the prize winner for a press release.

In summary, the Groundswell City to Soil Community Engagement Strategy taps into known motivators and transcends the requirement to change people’s values. Education messages and materials have been kept very simple.

The use of drawings & social marketing strategies ensures people do not have to be literate to correctly participate. The program transcends conventional education strategies which rely on values change or environmental awareness. It is also notable for its ease of implementation, simplicity, affordability and effectiveness.

The success of the education program is dependant on making sure that the right tools have been provided, and that the right motivators have been identified. People need to know what you want them to do as well as why. Strengthening the link between people and where their food comes from is integral to keeping physical contamination out of the organics stream.

A good community engagement strategy builds positive links between households, councils, processors and local farmers. And that can only be a good thing.

BioBag Recommended on Oprah com

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:14:00 GMT

BioBag: Recommended on Oprah.com & December 2009 issue of O Magazine
(pg 160; Seeing Green - 17 ways to save money - and the planet)

http://www.oprah.com/world/Resources-to-Help-You-Go-Green