Not So Ingenious

On January 16, 2010... I posted about how I was throwing some "ingeo plant-based" iTunes gift cards into my compost pile...hoping that in a few months I would've been able to post a photo of a shriveled up gift card. WELL... today as we were moving finished compost from our compost bin to our veggie garden, I saw this:

 I was so happy and excited about the idea of my iTunes gift cards composting... but, unfortunately, over a year after I added three plant-based gift cards to our compost pile.... not much has changed.  Back in December,  I had found a card in the compost pile and had originally thought that some of the writing was gone... I was wrong.

 What had happened is the outer plastic had separated from the solid white card...which (obviously) made me think that writing was gone... *sigh*... I can still read "ingeo plant-based card" as clear as ever... (such a bummer)

... maybe the cards will compost in a commercial composting facility??  I don't know.  What I do know is that I'm going to keep sticking to requesting that our family and friends make donations to our favorite causes in lieu of gift cards (or gifts)... 

Curious??  Some of our favorite causes and people we support are:

The Plastic Ocean                     

Sara Bayles-- $5 for 5 Gyres Expedition 

Wallace J. Nichols                             

Surfrider

Ocean Cure

Ingeo = Ingenious

I just finished redeeming lots of iTunes gift cards and have noticed something...

As soon as I pulled the cards off their paper "hanging" thingie... I noticed "ingeo plant-based card"!! No more PVC... I'm thinking that ingeo means "ingenious". I briefly searched to see if I can compost it... but didn't find much except that lots of companies are switching to this "new" plant-based plastic, which-- by the way-- makes me very happy.

SO... I've decided that I'm gonna chuck the cards in my compost pile and see what happens. Maybe in a few months... if all goes the way I hope it does... I'll be able to post a pic of shriveled iTunes cards.

My LOVE for iTunes is growing by the second... :)

Update on December 26, 2010:  Nearly a year after tossing my iTunes gift cards into my compost pile... the only thing that has changed is the color.  All of the writing is pretty much gone... but the cards haven't even begun to shrivel.  Still going to leave the cards in the pile and see how long it takes for them to compost... if they compost at all.  

(By the way, this year we made sure to request no gifts.)

UPDATE #2-- March 4, 2011: Not So Ingenious