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Q. What are Annually Renewable Resources?
A. These are resources that are annually sustainable and are harvested within a 1 year growing season and include items such as corn, potatoes and other crops.
Go BackQ. What are The Harvest Collection® products made from?
A. All Harvest Collection® biodegradable products, such as compostable cups and compostable plates are produced from Resin containing polylactic acid or PLA, proteins, starches from potato, wheat or rice along with other bio based material.
Go BackQ. What are the benefits of using Harvest Collection® biodegradable products?
A. Our Harvest Collection® products have many of the same benefits as the top of the line plastic single use items while maintaining the ability to biodegrade when properly disposed of at a commercially run compost facility. These features include a strong, cut resistant part that will not weaken when used for wet food applications. Although The Harvest Collection® items are not intended for use in the microwave, they may be used in applications where food temperature reaches up to 130° F.
Go BackQ. What does compostable mean?
A. All Harvest Collection® products are 100% BPI certified compostable when properly disposed of into a commercially run composting facility, and will completely biodegrade in accordance with ASTM D6400 and ASTM D6868 guidelines, leaving absolutely no chemical residue. Harvest Collection® products may be thrown away with food stuffs without the need for separation where municipal composting programs exist. All Harvest Collection® products, like compostable plates and compostable cups, will eventually biodegrade if placed into a landfill, but this process will take longer as most modern landfills, unlike commercially run composting facilities, are designed to be moisture free.
Go BackQ. What is ASTM D6400?
A. ASTM is short for American Standards for Testing and Materials standards. ASTM D6400 is basically a definition for what qualifies as compostable. Products that meet ASTM D6400 will biodegrade rapidly during the composting process while not reducing the utility of the finished compost.
Go BackQ. Where are The Harvest Collection® products produced?
A. We manufacture all Harvest Collection® items right here in the U.S.
Go BackQ. Why do biodegradable products tend to cost more than traditional plastic products?
A. The companies that produce the raw materials and resins for these types of products are still relatively new when compared to traditional plastic resin manufacturers and generally have not achieved the same production capacities or volume levels needed to produce "lowest cost" levels. Also, the technology required is still in its infancy as new methods are being developed. Therefore, the laws of supply and demand keep the resin costs higher than some traditional petroleum based plastics. The good news is, although certain fossil fuels are used to run the production plants, the base resin is comprised of annually renewable resources and, based on historical data, should not be subject to the sometimes drastic spikes in price that other, traditional plastic resins experience due to external factors such as the price of crude oil.
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