Is this alright to compost...

[john gault]

What are butter wrappers made from? I tore a piece off and there's no plastic, but that silvery look makes me wonder what that is and is it alright in the compost? Same thing with gum wrappers -- what's that silvery stuff?

[bg]

Aluminum foil and paper. Not sure I'd throw that in imo.

[john gault]

Aluminum foil and paper. Not sure I'd throw that in imo.

It's not aluminum foil, it looks to be the same stuff on gum wrappers.

[john gault]

I try to buy butter and margarine that is wrapped in waxed paper, but sometimes the packaging fools me.

I think I will start doing that now, but really curious what it is.

[bg]

That is usually aluminum foil, you can do a google search for aluminum gum wrappers and aluminum butter wrappers.

here's one site:
http://www.indiamart.com/sp-enterprises ... aging.html

and one for butter on the same site:
http://www.indiamart.com/sp-enterprises ... ppers.html

The wiki for aluminum foil also lists dairy products as one of the packaging uses.

Anyway, it's been said they don't break down, and would then not be good to put in the compost pile.

[john gault]

That is usually aluminum foil, you can do a google search for aluminum gum wrappers and aluminum butter wrappers.

here's one site:
http://www.indiamart.com/sp-enterprises ... aging.html

and one for butter on the same site:
http://www.indiamart.com/sp-enterprises ... ppers.html

The wiki for aluminum foil also lists dairy products as one of the packaging uses.

Anyway, it's been said they don't break down, and would then not be good to put in the compost pile.

Wow, I'm going to have to take a second look at that stuff. I've seen how they make aluminum foil, but would love to see how they laminate with aluminum.

BTW, I recycle aluminum foil, but looks like this stuff would be completely useless to recycle with metal. And I guess also can't recycle with paper.

[bg]

Some of the links in the search results said that they used to peel the aluminum off of the paper during WWII to contribute to the war effort. One of the links said you can take a nickel and scrape it off like a lottery ticket.

One said wrigley's is switching to using something easier to recycle and better for the environment due to the fact they are just tossed instead and hard to recycle.

I can definitely see that it would be difficult to do. I don't much chew gum anymore, and usually the sticks of butter I get are just the wax paper or I make my own and put it in a plastic tub.

[toxcrusadr]

I've been to an aluminum foil factory, where they take 1-ton chunks of pig aluminum and turn them into miles of foil. One of their main products was gum wrapper foil. It is thinner than kitchen foil, and yes they can laminate it onto paper using a bit of adhesive, or onto mylar to make those shiny balloons. The wonders of technology.

Interesting side note: the properties of the foil (flexibility and strength for example) can be manipulated by changing the content of trace minerals like silicon and sodium in the aluminum feedstock.

[Tilde]

The last couple of years the gum I've bought (wrigleys included) had wax paper - but only in the bigger packs (which are now 15 pc, was 17 pc). The little 5 pc pack is usually the aluminum+paper combo.