The Science
Microbes are key to production and decomposition cycle of Blue Bag Organics liners
The magic to our Blue Bag Organics curbside composting system is the special Blue Bag Organics bag that delivers seemingly opposite performance characteristics: good puncture and tear resistance for you, and fast decomposition for compost.
Each Blue Bag Organics bag is made from a proprietary blend of bioplastics composed of corn syrup and polymers produced by microbes. These are renewable ingredients, unlike the petroleum used to make typical plastic bags that don’t biodegrade. Later, other types of microbes found in soil devour the Blue Bag Organics bags and convert them to compost.
Scientists at Telles, a Massachusetts-based joint venture, identified certain microbes in nature that, after eating sugar, generate a microscopic amount of a special polymer inside their bodies. In the lab, the Telles scientists discovered a way to tweak the microbes to increase their polymer production tenfold, from 8 percent of their body weight to 80 percent.
At the company’s Clinton, Iowa, production facility, microbes gorge themselves on a slurry of corn syrup held in huge stainless steel tanks. The microbes become bloated with the special polymer, which is extracted to make a patented bioplastic resin.
Blue Bag Organics liners are certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute.
Mvera™, the special resin from which Blue Bag Organics liners are made, meets the ASTM D6400 standard for bioplastics. The resin makes Blue Bag Organics bags durable and shelf-stable. They can withstand sunlight and rain. But when they are buried at an industrial composting facility, especially under warm compost soil, Blue Bag Organics bags disintegrate in about 45 days.
You can learn more about Mvera and other Mirel™ brand bioplastics manufactured by Telles here.