Serviceware sheet
Forward this to your caterers and vendors when you book, or print it and hand it over. One page, and it answers the question they will ask.
If it is not certified, it cannot be composted.
This event is composting its food scraps. Everything collected goes to a community compost site in Brooklyn and comes back to the city as soil, which means a batch has to be clean enough to put in a garden. One tray of the wrong cups can make a whole event’s material unusable.
Compostable serviceware must be BPI or CMA certified, and the item itself has to say so. Those two marks mean an independent lab has tested the item and confirmed it breaks down in a composting facility without leaving plastic behind.
Words like “eco”, “green”, “plant-based”, “bio” and “biodegradable” are not certifications and are not regulated. A cup sold as plant-based is very often paper with a thin plastic lining, which is exactly the thing we cannot take. If the item does not carry a BPI or CMA mark, treat it as plastic.
- Fruit and vegetable trimmings, peels, cores and pits
- Prepared food and plate scrapings, including meat, fish, bones and dairy
- Bread, pasta, rice, grains and baked goods
- Coffee grounds and paper filters, tea and tea bags
- Eggshells and nutshells
- Paper napkins, paper towels and uncoated paper plates
- Certified compostable service ware (BPI or CMA certified)
- Liquids in volume: pour them out first
- Plastic of any kind, including bags, cutlery, film and produce stickers
- Glass, metal and foil
- Coated or wax-lined cups, containers and takeout boxes
- Styrofoam and packing foam
- Pet waste, diapers and anything from a bathroom
- Cleaning products, chemicals, oils and grease in volume
- Ask your supplier for the BPI or CMA certification number for each item, not a description. Certified products are listed publicly by both bodies.
- Plain uncoated paper plates and unlined paper napkins need no certification. They already compost.
- Where certified cutlery is not available, bare wood or bamboo is fine. Anything that looks like plastic and carries no mark is not.