Are Palm Leaf Plates Compostable?
Absolutely Yes! Palm leaf plates are 100% biodegradable and are compostable through a process. Being compostable is the specialty of the palm leaf plates to be called/considered eco-friendly plates that don’t belong to the landfills and don’t become the cause affecting the Earth.
Palm leaf plates are made of the leaves that are gathered, hand-pressed, and then sanitized for the sake of promoting hygiene. No glue, no synthetic adhesive, or anything like that is used in the manufacturing process. However, not only the plates themselves are eco-friendly, but the manufacturing process itself is also environmentally friendly.
Palm leaf plates aren’t merely beneficial in their original new state, but they can also be helpful to nourish your garden through the composting process. They can be used to extract the “Black Gold’’ out of them by manually composting them. Why waste palm leaf plates when there’s a hidden treasure in them?
Let’s explore how palm leaf plates can be decomposed, and are they worth replacing your regular plates with palm leaf plates? We have composed a detailed guide for you to help you compost your palm leaf plates safely on a smaller scale. Let’s dive in.
Why Should You Consider Composting? Benefits of Composting
To help you understand: why you should consider composting, it’s important to know what happens when organic waste is left in the landfills to rot.
Well, it’s a similar thing if you leave the kitchen waste in the trash bag or dustbin for a few weeks, the result becomes devastating - a foul odor will be produced, and on opening it, your home will probably smell like a typical landfill.
This is exactly what happens when palm plates and other organic materials are thrown away in landfills. They contribute to climate change by producing greenhouse gasses and methane gas, which leads to the production of heat and results in an excessive impact on climate change.
To save our planet from such devastating consequences and leave it to function naturally, it’s necessary to reduce our household waste by composting it on a smaller scale.
According to a report issued by the USDA, 20 to 25 % percent of organic waste comes from household waste. And, if the household kitchen waste is controlled by the simple composting process, it will be a big relief for Earth to heal.
If you start composting your kitchen waste and other organic waste, you won’t be just contributing and promoting eco-friendly activities, but also will be reducing the footprints of your household prints.
How Do You Compost Palm Leaf Plates?
As the name suggests, palm leaf plates are made of thoroughly compressed leaves, and then they are given the shape of plates. Palm leaf plates compost on their own within a couple of days, and this is their specialty, as they don’t rot on Earth.
However, if you want to take advantage of the composting of palm leaf plates, then certainly there is a way. There are a lot of practical benefits of composting like composter is highly nutrient-rich for soil. If you have a pile of biodegradable plates, you should initiate the composting process to acquire their green benefits.
Since they are made of palm leaves, the compostable process is extremely easy and doesn’t require any special equipment, and it can conveniently be done at home in your backyard without seeking any professional help.
Step 1 - The composting process of the palm leaf plates will take from 6 to 8 weeks to fully complete. To speed up the process, cut the palm leaf plates into smaller pieces, and store them in a smaller container.
Make sure to store it in a container with a smaller surface area. Also, choose a composting container that can retain the inside temperature of the composting material.
It is important to keep the container cool and dry, so the microorganisms work effectively to kill and break down the material and turn it into a valuable and nutritious rice mixture.
Step 2 - Palm leaf plates contain carbon-rich elements, and it is necessary to balance them with the nitrogen-rich element. Put rotten fruits, vegetables, and fresh grass clipping in the container along with the palm leaf plates. Also, the palm leaf plates are quite dry, so use the water to add moisture to speed up the process.
Step 3 - Palm leaf plates are organic and shouldn’t be kept with recyclable waste, as it can lead to the production of dangerous gasses like methane and greenhouse gasses.
When the composting process is completed, there is nothing left behind except the highly nutritional material that can become food for your soil, plants, and flowers.
If you don’t want to compost them in your backyard, then send them to an industrial composter. Otherwise, don’t keep them with the recyclable waste and get rid of them by throwing them away.
How to Know When the Composting Process Is Finished?
While reading this entire post, you might come up with a question “ how would you know when the composting is finished?”. Well, for checking whether the process is finished, or not, you won’t require any special equipment. It can be simply checked out by a few little clues.
When the composting process is finished, the pile of organic waste and bigger chunks of fruit and vegetables will be broken down and will become brown and crumbly. The smell of the compost tells whether it’s finished or not. It smells just exactly like when you are in the middle of a wet forest.
Where to Buy Compostable Palm Leaf Plates?
When you search it on the internet “Where to buy the best Compostable Palm leaf Plates?” It shows you plenty of websites and online stores to buy the compostable palm leaf plates. Either many of them offer plates that are too boring to use for the party and upscale tablescape or simply too costly.
“Smarty had a Party” is an online superstore that promises to deliver not only the 100% biodegradable palm leaf plates, but also at a fraction of the cost.
We have a wide variety of disposable eco plates that come in various elegant designs and shapes that can be used to style your tablescape for upscale special occasions like wedding parties, birthday parties, and a lot more.