Every Friday, Consumer Reporter Lynda Steele dips into the mailbag to answer your questions. This week, Steele on Your Side investigates compostable plastic bags and hair used to mop up oil spills.
Compostable plastic bags
Annie recently received a warning from a City of Vancouver inspector after throwing compostable plastic bags into her green bin. She wants to know why compostable bags aren't allowed.
The Recycling Council of BC says no plastic bags are accepted in the green bins, even if they are labelled compostable or biodegradable.
Not all of those bags break down in the composting system and can remain in fragments in the finished compost, they say. The paper bag-to-earth compostable bags are the only bags accepted in green bins.
Recycling hair booms
Alan wrote us after watching the Steele on Your Side story about a company that recycles hair from salons and uses it in booms to soak up oil spills. He wants to know what happens to the oily sacks once they've been used.
Green Circle Salons told CTV News that the company that uses the boom is responsible for its cleanup. But there are many options. One includes using mushrooms to break down and re-naturalize the booms, including the oil itself.
Another option is incineration. The booms can be put into a closed loop incineration system and the energy can be captured so that it is able to be injected into a power grid.
But unfortunately, a large portion of booms do get sent to landfill after they have outlived their usefulnessfor mopping up spills in water.
