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List of Biodegradable, Everyday Products

Purchasing environmentally friendly products has become a mainstream consideration in family life, the business world, medical facilities and fast food restaurants. Entrepreneurs around the world have responded to these demands with numerous product improvements geared toward developing a wider selection of biodegradable products that can please a homemaker, a gardener or even a surgeon. We’ve come a long way in eliminating harmful chemicals in items that are used every day.

  1. School and Office

    • Paper products are among the most common biodegradable items. They are used in the office to print images and reports, for paper cups, paper towels, and shipping boxes. Schools use notepaper, paper dishes, milk cartons and lots of toilet paper. Paper is mainly comprised of wood, glue and miscellaneous linen and cotton fibers, which are biodegradable. Paper products have been the forerunner in biodegradable household and office products.

    Gardening

    • Common biodegradable gardening products include peat pots for starting seeds, garden fertilizers, plant-based pesticides, tomato stakes and leaf nets that can be placed directly in your composter. There are several brands of biodegradable garbage bags on the market today that can also be used for this purpose. In order for a garbage bag to be marketed as biodegradable, it must meet strict standards according to greenplastics.com and must degrade at least 60 percent by normal means from microorganisms such as algae, fungi and bacteria within 180 days.

    Home and Cleaning

    • Many cleaning products including laundry soaps are going green with nontoxic, plant-based formulas. Other items that are gaining market share are biodegradeable printer ink, cat litter and various odor removers. Clothing made from cotton, wool, silk or any plant- or animal-based fiber are also biodegradable. Several companies are now offering biodegradable diapers, but ciwmb.ca.gov states that they do not decompose any faster than regular diapers in a landfill due to the absence of elements that are necessary to encourage decomposition.

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