Totally agree on the importance. Many of us have been combo buying from local places that do not need stickers like CSAs and Farmers Markets and Imperfect food, etc. I’ve been involved in many levels re trying to improve composting, note that the goal of having something that is compostable is tough re the inks too often become unreadable enough to cause, re the key purpose is to be able to track via readable info on the stickers. Plus so no on biodegradable as they have verified that when it only breaks down into smaller pieces it’s a dangerous microplastics problem.

Simply not true. I have had these stickers intact in my compost after 2 years.

The sticker needs to be somewhat edible, needs to stick, and have many printed texts on it. It also has to be able to withstand moisture and survive in cold and hot conditions. So yes, it is hard to figure out.

Happens to me lots of times. A small knife can be used to carve then right out.

They are vinyl plastic. Not paper. Vinyl that’s sitting in your ugly soil. Pollution.

When I used to be in charge of turning the compost pile in my community garden, I saw these stickers all throughout it and it was really annoying & ugly, too. They definitely did not degrade, at least not as fast as the compost. If they do eventually degrade and go into the soil, that is a problem, too if they are vinyl because vinyl is pretty toxic. Paper would be fine, some other plastics are safer than vinyl although I’m not sure how safe they are if they get into the body as microscopic particles. Also I know some types of wildlife (some birds, for example) are more sensitive to toxins than humans are.

Yikes! Yes it photodegrades into tiny particles that are now making their way into the food system and our bodies! Tiny particles aren’t automatically good particles. The tiny plastics themselves are toxic and other toxins bind to them allowing more bioaccumulation of toxins.

Just don’t use plastic straws ever!

I agree with you that stickers biodegrade. There is some strange hatred over plastic, but fact is it turns to dust faster than paper.