I found this great article on cellophane, Cellophane: a green plastic? and thought you might find it interesting. It explains very well how cellophane is made.  We learned a lot.  Cellophane is the original clear wrapping material. It is made from wood, just like paper.  However, this article leaves us wondering about the carbon foot print of cellophane  compared to polypropylene films.

The good news is that there are other cellulose based films that compost at home. Innovia Films makes NatureFlex films that are biodegradable at home. Like cellophane they are made from wood. however they come in thinner gauges and with other abilities.

What I learned is that we need to look deeper to get the full story about the sustainability and green-ness of the products we buy.

For example, today we bought some “sustainable”  plastic forks and spoons.. The large print tells us that the product is sustainable and compostable. The fine print tells us that  the composting requires a commercial or industrial grade composting facility.  Most of us do not have access to such a facility, even through our municipality. How much of a favor has the plastic utensil manufacturer done the world to give a product that costs more and cannot be easily reprocessed?