Tuesday Tabs

For this Tuesdays tabs I did some research about biodegradable tableware. Here in Houston if you go to Brown Bag Deli you get a cup and straw that say they're biodegradable. The first time I saw this I was delighted but now that I've started my own compost, I wonder if those cups and straws are truly compostable? Biodegradable kitchenware is made from corn which is an amazing renewable resource, but the corn is turned into a plastic (PLA or polylactide) so how can it really be biodegradable?

Here's an article from Boston about biodegradable cups-
Biodegradable corn cups: Too good to be true?
This article says corn cups probably aren't biodegradable in your regular backyard compost but definitely in a industrial compost. The cup pictured in the article states

"This cup grew up in Blair, Nebraska. It's made entirely of corn. It's 100% compostable. It will disappear no matter what you do with it."

It's true that the cup will disappear but at what cost? If the cup is just thrown in the trash it will end up in a landfill somewhere and will decompose without oxygen and produce methane gas. Methane is the most potent of all the greenhouse gases and it contributes 25 times more to climate change than carbon dioxide. (TerraCycle)

The FAQ page for this biodegradable store says that their products will biodegrade in 30-45 days in commercial composts and a little longer in your regular old backyard compost.

I found this adorable Biodegradable party kit! I wonder how long it would take this to biodegrade in a regular backyard compost? It's a wonderful idea though. I think I might buy some cold cups for my next party, I wish they weren't made in Taiwan :/. I emailed another site about their cold cups because they didn't have any information on where they were made. If they're made in Taiwan they have to be shipped to the states and think about all that pollution it creates! Anyways, those cups would be great because even if it takes a while to biodegrade, it's a whole lot better than those blue party cups that no one ever recycles. Can you even recycle those??