Here we are at week thirteen with the original bag. I am willing to recalibrate the count down to week five, as that is how long the bag has been in my tumbling composter. I am also going to say that from the looks of things Frito-Lay's claim of a fourteen week breakdown period for the new SunChips bag is optimistic at best for the average home composter. I am sure a commercial composting operation would have much better results, hitting the fourteen week target relatively easily. But most of us don't have rigorously controlled conditions that are balanced by various means. Most of us have to deal with what we "produce" in our own kitchens and yards.
So let's say we are at week five. Bag number one is given a reprieve and gets a clock reset back from week thirteen to week five. So how do things look five weeks in? Pretty much the same. The bags are dirty and have lost integrity, but as you can see, there's still enough integrity that they can stand on their own and support a bent corner, etc. I have hope, though. It's getting very hot here in Arizona and there's plenty of steam coming off the compost when I open it up after a spin or two.
What about the bag I staked on the ground to mimic roadside litter? Lots of heat and Arizona sun has had very little effect on the bag. I don't even think it has faded at all. We'll see how it stands up to the monsoons when they arrive at the end of the month!
And that interloper, the compostable Quiznos cup? It's definitely showing some wear and discoloration. I think that whatever they spray on the cups to allow them to hold liquid has already broken down or is well on the way because the cup is discolored and appears to be taking on a brown tint. It almost looks like it was held to a flame. Considering how hot it must get inside that composter it might actually be literally scorched. It's not unusual for compost piles to reach internal temperatures that result in flames. This generally won't happen if the pile is kept turned, etc., and it's very unlikely in a tumbling composter that gets tumbled. But it's still going to get hot.
Forward we go! Someday we'll hit dirt!
