The Receipts

Yes to both at our Toronto location!

When checking out of our online store, there's an option to pick up your package directly from us. In the shipping options, select "pick-up." Alternatively, you can come shop in store with us!

Store hours: 10am to 3pm, Monday to Friday.

We're located in the Planet/Apple Storage building at 1655 Dupont St, Toronto, Ontario. Accessible from the West Toronto Railpath or from Dupont St. We’re in the courtyard behind the coffee shop (Saving Mondays) and beside the gym (F45)!

We're located in the Planet/Apple Storage building at 1655 Dupont Street, Unit 103.

It's on Dupont Street very close to where Dupont and Dundas meet. Once at 1655 Dupont, walk/drive underneath the building's entrance. The coffee shop "Saving Mondays" will be on your right. Continue to the back of the courtyard where you will find us at the back!

Yes and no. It depends on what you're buying and where you're currently buying it.

Yes: some of our products, like ink caps, can't be produced as cheaply as their plastic equivalents, so they cost more.

No: many of our products are priced the same as non-eco options, and some are actually cheaper!

When we last compared our pricing in August 2025, across 14 of the largest tattoo supply companies in Canada and the United States, Good Judy products came out 10.85% more expensive on average than non-eco alternatives. Based on average supply use, that worked out to roughly $0.29 USD more per tattoo. Prices across the industry have shifted since, so treat that as a ballpark.

We understand that eco will only work if it's accessible, which is why we price every product thoughtfully.

Want the real numbers for your shop? Email ryan@goodjudy.ca with links to the products you currently use and we'll send back a per-unit price comparison.

Two reasons: scale, and what's hidden in the price of plastic.

Bioplastics and other emerging eco-industries are very new compared to the petroleum-based plastic industry, which has operated at global scale since the 1960s. Eco-responsible industries use newer technologies and higher-quality materials, so manufacturing costs more right now.

Bioplastics still account for less than 1% of global plastics production, which means enormous room to grow, and it is growing. European Bioplastics puts 2025 biobased plastics capacity at roughly 2.3 million tonnes against roughly 431 million tonnes of plastic produced annually, and projects that capacity to roughly double by 2030.

As eco-responsible items become normalized and demand rises, costs will level out, because they'll no longer be specialty items.

The other reality is that regular plastics are made cheap and dirty from the byproducts of the oil and gas industry. Those manufacturing processes don't cost much in dollars, but they carry a devastating carbon cost.

According to the OECD, plastics generated 1.8 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, and 90% of that came from producing plastics and converting them into products. For scale, Canada's entire national emissions were 694 megatonnes in 2023. Global plastic production emits roughly two and a half times what our whole country does.

From an emissions perspective, regular plastic does almost all of its damage before it's even a usable product.

When we invest in products that are made better but cost slightly more, that's a small investment in a cleaner future.

Sources

• OECD, Global Plastics Outlook (2022, using 2019 data)
• European Bioplastics, market data
• Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Inventory Report, executive summary (2025 edition, 2023 data)

Currently, we don't have a 'pro team,' and we've steered away from this type of thing for a couple of reasons:

1. We want to make sure eco is for all, not just the artists making the most money or the folks with the largest following. We live and operate in a capitalist society, but we do our best to be different where we can.
2. It's a lot to manage. We're a team of 3!

One exception: if you're seeking sponsorship for a charity event, email support@goodjudy.ca. We're happy to help with product and education.

Because we receive a lot of sponsorship inquiries, we've created this form to understand each applicant's passion for sustainable tattooing, in the event this is something we can execute in the future (with our unique twist, of course).

Lastly, Ecotattooing.com is a website and database we've created to bring together and highlight the artists most dedicated to the movement. Check it out if you want to get involved! Our vision is to elevate it to the point where eco tattooing becomes the norm in the industry, and the tattooers who have put in the effort are ultimately rewarded with more business.

Yes!

Each of our Eco products have bulk options availible for puchase.

Alternatively, if you're a big shop or want to buy in bulk to reduce shipping carbon and get a slightly more economic rate, please email ryan@goodjudy.ca with the following information:

1. Your address (where the shipment will be going)
2. Which of our products you're looking to purchase
3. When you'd like to place the order

Please note: There is a $5,000 minimum on bulk orders as that is what we consider 'bulk'. You will receive 10% off the lowest bulk cost + free shipping.

Our ink caps ship non-sterile, so we recommend disinfecting them before use.

Two Ways

Quick method: spray with 70% isopropyl alcohol while you set up your station. Let them dry completely before filling with ink and you're good to go!

Thorough method: submerge the caps in 70% or 90% isopropyl alcohol for five to ten minutes. Alcohol evaporates fast, so soaking gives you far better contact time than spraying does. Dry them completely on a paper towel, then store them dry in a container with a lid, like a mason jar.

If you spray rather than soak, the caps can go back in their original bag until you need them.

To be clear about what this does: isopropyl alcohol disinfects, it does not sterilize. Sterilization requires an autoclave. Ink caps are single-use. Disinfect before the tattoo, then discard after each client.

Your local health authority sets the infection control rules for your shop, and those always come first. If their guidance differs from ours, follow theirs.

Disinfectant labels list specific organisms, not categories, and that's deliberate. A regulator approves a product against the organisms it was actually tested on.

The chart below groups microorganisms into classes: bacteria, fungi, enveloped viruses, non-enveloped viruses, mycobacteria and bacterial spores. Some classes are much harder to kill than others, which is why a product tested against a tough class is generally effective against easier ones.

That's useful for understanding what you're looking at. It is not a substitute for the label.

How to actually choose a product:

1. Read the label's organism list. That's what the product is approved to kill, and nothing more. In Canada, a disinfectant will have a DIN. In the US, an EPA registration number.

2. Check your health authority's approved list. In Canada, Health Canada's Drug Product Database and its published disinfectant lists. In the US, the EPA's registered product lists. Your local public health unit may also have its own requirements for tattoo settings.

3. Match it to what you need covered. In tattooing, the bloodborne pathogens that matter most are hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Ask your health authority what they require for those, because a product that names HIV on the label has not necessarily been tested against hepatitis.

We won't tell you that one kill claim implies another. The label and your health authority are the answer, and we'd rather point you there than have you take our word for it.

Both can disinfect a tattoo station. The difference is what the active ingredient is, and what you're breathing in every day over a career.

Synthetic disinfectants are made by taking natural ingredients and chemically altering them into compounds that don't occur in nature. They work, and most shops use them. Our concern is cumulative exposure across a working life, and the contribution to microbial resistance. The long-term environmental effects of many synthetics aren't well understood yet.

Botanical disinfectants use a naturally occurring active ingredient whose chemical structure hasn't been altered.

What We Stock

We carry Benefect Botanical Disinfectant. The active ingredient is thymol at 0.23%, from thyme oil. Benefect describes it as the first and still the only authentically botanical disinfectant technology in the world.

What the label says it kills: MRSA, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Mycobacterium bovis (TB), the athlete's foot fungus, and HIV-1.

How to Actually Use It, Straight From the Label

1. Pre-clean the surface. Pre-cleaning means getting the surface physically clean before you disinfect. Clear off used barriers, caps, wrappers and tissue. Wipe up blood, plasma and ink. Get the ointment film off the armrest, because that greasy layer is the one people miss. Organic matter shields germs underneath it and neutralises the disinfectant before it can work, so this step isn't optional. Benefect's HIV claim applies to pre-cleaned surfaces only.

Don't let blood dry on between clients. Dried-on soil is harder to shift and makes the disinfection step less reliable.

2. Wear protection while you clean up blood. The label calls for disposable gloves, plus a gown, mask or eye covering where there's a splash risk.

3. Then disinfect. Spray the surface and leave it visibly wet for 10 minutes at room temperature, then let it air dry. No rinsing or wiping needed.

Handy detail: that's the same bottle twice, not two products. Benefect's label covers both steps. Spray and wipe away to clean, then spray again and leave it alone for 10 minutes.

That 10 minutes is the part people skip. A quick wipe-down doesn't disinfect, with this product or any other.

One limit worth knowing: Benefect is a disinfectant, not a sterilant. Its label states it can't be used as a terminal sterilant on instruments. Sterilisation needs an autoclave.

Approvals and certifications: Health Canada DIN 02242474. EPA Reg. No. 84683-1-74771. Ecologo CCD-166, FDA GRAS, CFIA S432.

Safety and environmental profile: EPA Toxicity Category IV for all routes of exposure, the lowest category EPA assigns. The safety data sheet classifies it as not hazardous under GHS, readily biodegradable at 85% in 28 days under OECD 301D, and not toxic to aquatic life. Low toxicity isn't the same as no risk, and we'd rather give you the actual ratings than tell you it's harmless.

Those are the manufacturer's claims and the regulators' approvals, not our own testing.

For how to read what a disinfectant covers, see "How can I understand the classifications of microorganisms affected by hospital grade cleaners?"

Our Position

We chose botanical because we'd rather not spend thirty years breathing something we don't have long-term data on, and because we think the industry should have that option. That's a judgement call on our part, not a safety warning about synthetics.

Use what your health authority approves, and make sure it covers the pathogens you need covered.

Waste rules are set locally and they differ a lot by country, so you need to check yours.

Here's Who to Ask

• Canada: your provincial or territorial public health authority, plus your municipality's waste department

• United States: your state or county health department. OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens standard (29 CFR 1910.1030) is also worth reading for handling requirements

• United Kingdom: your local council's environmental health team, the same people your studio registers with. UK studio waste is handled as clinical waste and the framework is HTM 07-01

• EU: your national environment or health authority. Rules are set country by country, not EU-wide

What's true everywhere: sharps go in a sharps container, never in a bin. For our razors, snap the head off into the sharps container. And once a product has touched blood or other bodily fluids it can't be composted, industrially or at home. Composting facilities don't accept contaminated waste, and a home bin doesn't reach the temperatures needed to deal with bloodborne pathogens.

Anything that hasn't touched a client can be disposed of as indicated on its packaging.

Why we still label products home or industrially compostable

You might notice we certify and label products for compost streams that won't accept them once they've been used. That's deliberate, for two reasons.

We're thinking long term. We see a future where tattoo products can enter compost streams, and that future doesn't arrive if nobody builds products ready for it.

And certification changes how a product gets made. Meeting a real compostability standard forces decisions about materials and additives all the way back down the supply chain. Doing it by the book is the only way we know to make sure these products are actually built better, whatever bin they end up in today.

So why does compostable matter if it ends up in a landfill?

Because what happens once it's there is different. A conventional plastic barrier stays a plastic barrier. Some of our products have been tested under simulated landfill conditions using ASTM D5511, which measures how materials break down without light or oxygen, mixed in with household and plastic waste. We can't promise a timeline, because landfills vary, but a product built to break down beats one built to last forever.

A note on standards: ASTM withdrew D5526, its accelerated landfill test method, in 2025 with no replacement. A revised version has been proposed and is under review. D5511 remains active, and we'll update this as things change.

On certifications. Credible certifications are printed on the packaging along with the standard behind them and the number of days tested. Certification isn't legally mandatory, so its absence doesn't automatically mean a product is bad. It means the claim is unproven, and we'd treat it that way.

This differs by country, so check with your municipality. In Canada and the United States, where we operate, tattoo garbage is disposed of through the same landfill system as regular household and commercial garbage. Sharps are the exception and go in a sharps container.

That means a product contaminated with blood or other biohazardous fluids is buried without being treated or separated. Nothing breaks it down, and nothing neutralises it.

That's the case for using biodegradable and compostable products even when they're headed for a landfill. They break down under those conditions instead of sitting there as a biohazard indefinitely.

For the full picture on disposal, including the UK and EU, see "How do I dispose of your products?"

While our answers here are accurate to the best of our knowledge, your municipality's rules and guidelines come first. Always.

The Short Answer: Don't.

Once a product has touched blood or other bodily fluids, it doesn't belong in your compost bin, and it doesn't belong in municipal organics either. Composting facilities don't accept contaminated waste. Contaminated tattoo supplies go in the garbage. See "How do I dispose of your products?" for the full picture.

Why Home Composting Isn't an Option

Killing bloodborne pathogens takes sustained, controlled heat, held for a defined period and verified. A home compost bin doesn't reach those temperatures reliably, and there's no way to confirm it did. The material will break down. That isn't the same as the pathogens being gone.

Why Industrial Composting Could Handle It, in Principle

Industrial composting puts material through conditions a backyard bin can't match, and in the US those conditions are written into federal regulation. Under 40 CFR Part 503, a composting process qualifies as reducing pathogens when it holds 55°C or higher for three days in a vessel or aerated static pile, or 55°C or higher for 15 days in a windrow with at least five turnings.

That's the trade-off between temperature and time in a nutshell. The same heat, held longer or shorter depending on the method.

Those rules cover sewage sludge in the US, and Canada, the UK and the EU set their own. But it's the reason industrial composting already handles biosolids and animal manure routinely. The process can do the job.

The barrier to tattoo and medical waste is commercial and regulatory rather than technical, which is what we're working toward changing.

Source: US EPA, 40 CFR Part 503, Appendix B, Pathogen Treatment Processes

Because burying it doesn't break it down. It just puts it somewhere you can't see it.

Petroleum plastics break down primarily through photodegradation, meaning UV exposure splitting the molecular chain. Heat, oxygen and physical wear contribute too, and microbial breakdown happens extremely slowly if at all. Buried in a landfill, plastic gets no sunlight. So the main mechanism that would degrade it never starts.

When plastic does break down, in the open, it doesn't disappear. It fragments into smaller and smaller particles over decades. Those microplastics are now found across land and sea, and they're a problem for animals and people rather than a solution to anything.

Some plastics carry an additional risk. Chlorinated plastics like PVC can leach harmful chemicals as they degrade. Modern engineered landfills use liners and leachate collection to contain that, but containment isn't the same as removal, and not every landfill is engineered to the same standard.

Landfills don't exist outside natural ecosystems. They sit inside them, and what happens there eventually affects what's around them.

This is why plant-based alternatives matter. PLA and similar bioplastics break down through biological processes into water, carbon dioxide and organic material, given the right conditions. Those conditions vary by product and by disposal route, which is why we're specific about which of our products break down where.

PLA is made from corn, but not from the part of the corn people react to.

Corn allergies are reactions to proteins. Making PLA starts by milling corn to separate the starch, and the protein is removed at that stage. The starch becomes dextrose, the dextrose is fermented into lactic acid, and the lactic acid is polymerised into plastic. By the time you have PLA, you're several steps past anything that contains corn protein. The heat used in processing would also break down any residual protein that made it through.

So a reaction is unlikely. We're a supply company, not doctors, and if you have a severe corn allergy please check with yours rather than take our word for it. We're happy to send you the technical documentation on any product so you can bring it to that conversation.

We don't currently sell products that contain wheat straw.

It's often said that wheat straw is gluten free, because gluten lives in the grain and straw is the stalk left after harvest. That's the theory. In practice, a 2025 study found that tableware made from wheat-based materials can contain measurable amounts of gluten and can transfer it to food. The National Celiac Association's position is that biodegradable tableware made from wheat straw should be treated as unsafe for people with celiac disease unless it's specifically certified gluten free.

Tattoo supplies aren't tableware, and celiac disease is triggered by ingestion rather than skin contact, so a wheat straw razor handle isn't the same risk as a wheat straw plate. But "wheat straw is gluten free" isn't a claim anyone should be making without certification, and we won't make it.

The Other Problem With Wheat Straw

Nothing can be made from 100% wheat straw:

• It doesn't melt, it burns, so it can't be injection moulded on its own
• It's fibrous like damp sawdust, so it can't fill thin, detailed mould sections
• On its own it's brittle and would break coming off the production line

In razors, wheat straw can make up 30 to 40% at most. The rest is either bioplastic or, more often in what we've seen, polypropylene. That's petroleum.

We're not telling you to write off every wheat straw product. We are saying it's the most compromised material we've looked at, and it's often added to a plastic base to pass the eyeball test. Eco isn't a colour or a style. It's a certification with evidence behind it.

Sources

• National Celiac Association, Biodegradable plastic from wheat straw (February 2026)

• Comino et al., Potential transfer of toxic gluten from biodegradable tableware to gluten-free foods, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2025

To find the size of glove that best fits you follow the chart below. Gloves should fit tight but not to the point of restricting movement, cutting off circulation or stretching to the point of breaking. 

To find the circumference of your palm measure at the widest point (where the base of your thumb meets your index finger) all the way around, from front to back. 

• Small - palm circumference 152mm / length 160mm 

• Medium - palm circumference 178mm / length 171mm

• Large - palm circumference 203mm / length 182mm

• XL - palm circumference 229mm / length 192mm

• 2XL - palm circumference 254mm / length 204mm

• 3XL - palm circumference 279mm / length 215mm 

Yes.

These gloves are certified under EN ISO 374-5:2016, the European standard for protection against micro-organisms, and they carry the virus pictogram, which means they passed viral penetration testing under ISO 16604.

SHOWA, our manufacturing partner, lists the following among the viruses these gloves protect against: HIV, Ebola, avian influenza, hantavirus, Marburg, rabies, smallpox, influenza A, B and C, rotavirus A, B and C, HPV, herpes simplex, West Nile, Zika and SARS-CoV-2.

These gloves are as safe for tattooing, and for anything else you'd use a glove for, as conventional non-biodegradable nitrile. The biodegradable additive changes what happens in the landfill, not how the glove performs on your hands.

We classify our biodegradable nitrile gloves as animal derivative free, which sounds like the long way of saying these gloves are vegan. Animal Derived Materials (ADMs) include any substance derived from the body of any animal, including fat, flesh, blood, milk and eggs. For an extensive list of things that are considered derived from animals you can visit peta.org 

Our goal is to support choices that protect animals and improve their lives while also being aware that it is impossible for a person or business to avoid every single animal ingredient. We support sustainable practices for using animal products when a plant based solution isn't yet possible. Remember our mandate is to reduce our reliance on single-use plastic items which inevitably end up back in the ecosystems of many species that are under threat from human activity.  

Accelerator-Free gloves are manufactured without the use of accelerator chemicals such as Mercaptobenzothiazole (MBTs), thiazoles, thiurams and dithiocarbamates to help protect glove users from a nonallergic reaction to any of the numerous irritants from both glove and non-glove associated sources. They are recommended for people with skin sensitivities.

Our biodegradable gloves are certified not only with ASTM International but with GreenCircle as well. 

GreenCircle Certified, LLC provides third-party certification for SHOWA's sustainable EBT products, ensuring the public and their distributing partners (like us!) can be confident in the claims for biodegradation.

SHOWA was the first hand protection company to achieve GreenCircle Certification and are leading the movement within the glove protection industry. 

They can, under the right landfill conditions, and we want to be clear about what those are.

Our gloves are made with an organic additive that lets microbes break the nitrile down into biogas and organic material. One of our suppliers, SHOWA, states that this technology requires a biologically active landfill, and that its gloves biodegrade within 1 to 5 years in those conditions, as validated by independent labs using ASTM D5511. [1]

ASTM D5511 is a lab test for how materials break down without oxygen. ASTM notes that its conditions may resemble biologically active landfills, where landfill gas is recovered and biogas production is actively promoted, and that results apply only to what was measured during the test. [2] Not every landfill works this way, so breakdown in a typical landfill may be slower, and we can't promise a timeline.

It’s also important to understand what happens next. When organic waste breaks down in a landfill, it produces landfill gas, which is roughly half methane. [3] Some landfills capture that gas and use it for energy; the US had more than 500 landfill gas energy projects as of 2024. [3] In Canada, new federal regulations will require larger landfills to control their methane, beginning in 2028. [4] It's a better outcome than a glove built to last forever, but it isn't a free pass. Single-use gloves aren't optional in our industry, so the question isn't whether to use them. It's which ones we choose.

A note on timing: Standards for biodegradable nitrile glove claims are still a moving target. In 2025, ASTM withdrew D5526, its test method for plastics under accelerated landfill conditions, with no replacement, and a proposal to reinstate a revised version (ASTM work item WK95881) is now under review. [5] ASTM D5511 remains active. [2] This answer reflects what we know as of September 2026, and we'll update it as standards, certifications and regulations change.

Sources

1. SHOWA, "EBT Biodegradable Technology"

2. ASTM International, "D5511 Standard Test Method for Determining Anaerobic Biodegradation of Plastic Materials Under High-Solids Anaerobic-Digestion Conditions"

3. US EPA Landfill Methane Outreach Program, "Basic Information about Landfill Gas": 

4. Environment and Climate Change Canada, "Landfill Methane Regulations"

5. ASTM International, "D5526 (Withdrawn 2025)"

Biodegradation is divided into 2 categories:

1. Aerobic
2. Anaerobic

Based on the environment involved, each is distinct, in that they involve 2 distinct types of microorganisms.

Aerobic: “in the presence of oxygen.” Aerobic microorganisms exist and multiply in oxygen containing environments. No oxygen, no life.

Anaerobic: “without oxygen.” Anaerobic microorganisms can exist and multiply devoid of free oxygen.

From the biodegradation perspective, any landfill contains both environments, simultaneously. Therefore, by definition, both types of microorganisms exist there, simultaneously. Both types of microorganisms also require moisture, with some thriving in levels as low as 8%, or as high as 100%. Most landfills average 15-40%. Moisture is essential for nutrient transport, as well as maintaining normal cellular functions in both types of microorganisms. In fact, most cereal grains are kept at none to extremely low moisture levels to inhibit biodegradation. Most microorganisms need elevated temperatures, more accurately, they need to be in range where they thrive, to be at their optimal biologically significant (able to biodegrade) levels. On average, most landfill temperatures range from 95-113°F, year-round; this is evident in the “steam clouds” that can be seen continually billowing forth from landfills in the winter. Temperatures can exceed 130°F in some instances. The point being most microbes (or any other species mentioned above) do not do very well in temperatures lower than 10°F. It is also worth noting that there are distinct species of microbes that do better than others at temperature intervals between the averages. Keep in mind; these temperatures are taken within the “mass” of the landfill. The external surface temperature has little overall bearing “on the inside.” With all that being said,  EBT glove technology exploits the natural environments (aerobic and anaerobic) found in landfills. In summary, “biological activity,” in the presence of or devoid of oxygen, the presence of moisture and elevated temperatures are the three major things needed for biodegradation. The EBT glove technology, without any input from other sources, uses all these factors, and accelerates the process.

Our gloves are made of a mixture of nitrile and organic material that our manufacturer blends together which is why they perform the same way regular nitrile gloves do while still holding the capacity to degrade quickly. They are certified under ASTM D5511. 

The organic compound additive attracts micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi etc) that literally consume the glove material. Once this process is complete the only thing left behind is H2O, CO2 and methane. Our manufacturing partners also conducted studies on how this process affects soil and plants that are exposed to this and found that it has no detrimental effects on their germination or growth patterns.  

The mechanism for the biodegradation does not become active until the gloves reach the landfill because moisture and  the presence of microbial activity are required.

They break the dependency on oil. Bioplastics can be certified compostable or biodegradable and made from plant feedstocks rather than petroleum. Every product made from a plant instead of crude oil is one less product tied to extraction. We don't think policy or industry priorities change on their own. They change when demand moves.

They reduce microplastic pollution. Conventional plastics don't get consumed by microorganisms. They fragment into smaller and smaller pieces, and those microplastics now turn up on land and at sea, linked to illness in animals, reduced reproduction, and damage to soil biodiversity. Certified compostable and biodegradable bioplastics are designed to be broken down by microorganisms instead, so under the conditions they're certified for, they don't leave that trail of fragments behind. Conditions matter, which is why we're specific about which of our products break down where.

They start from carbon that was recently in the air. A plant absorbs CO2 while it grows. A bioplastic made from that plant starts its life from carbon that was in the atmosphere last season, not carbon that was locked underground for millions of years. That's a fundamentally different starting point from oil.

They shift behaviour. Choosing eco-responsible options signals something to the people around you, to the companies you buy from, and to the clients you serve. Composting is one of the fastest growing parts of waste management, and it grows because people ask for it. Using certified compostables gets people engaged with waste systems they'd otherwise never think about.

They matter most where recycling isn't an option. In tattooing and healthcare, anything contaminated with blood or bodily fluids can't be recycled. That's a large volume of waste with no route except landfill or worse, incineration.

Today, composting isn't a route either. Facilities don't accept contaminated waste, and we're clear about that in our disposal guidance while seeing a future where tattooing can compost it's waste.

But the reason is worth understanding. Industrial composting reaches temperatures that inactivate pathogens, which is why it handles animal manure and biosolids routinely. The barrier to accepting tattoo and medical waste is partly commercial, because composters have to sell the finished compost, and partly a matter of regulation and public perception rather than a hard limit of the process.

We think that's solvable, and we think it's where this ends up. Getting there needs the infrastructure, the regulation, and products that are ready when the rules change. That's why we certify for compost streams that won't take our products yet.

They're the two bioplastics behind most of what we sell, and they're different in an important way.

PLA (polylactic acid, sometimes polylactide) is plant-based. It's made from starch-rich crops like corn, wheat and sugar beet. The plants are milled to separate the starch, which is processed into unrefined dextrose, fermented into lactic acid, then converted into lactide and polymerised into long chains.

PLA is compostable, and because its feedstock is a crop rather than crude oil, it's also renewable. Those are two separate properties and it's worth keeping them apart: compostable is about how something ends, renewable is about where it started. PLA happens to be both.

PBAT (polybutylene adipate terephthalate) is a biodegradable copolyester made from adipic acid, 1,4-butanediol and terephthalic acid.

Here's the part we'd rather tell you than have you find out: PBAT is fossil-based. It's made from oil.

We use it anyway, because "made from oil" and "stays forever" aren't the same thing. PBAT is designed to biodegrade, it's certified compostable under EN 13432 for bio-waste bags, and it gives films the flexibility that PLA alone can't. Researchers at ETH Zurich and Eawag demonstrated that soil microorganisms, including fungi, break PBAT down completely, using the carbon from every part of the polymer for energy and biomass. Nothing is left but water, CO2 and microbial matter.

A bioplastic made from a renewable crop is better than one made from oil. A biodegradable plastic made from oil is better than a conventional plastic made from the same oil that lasts for centuries. We'd rather be honest about this hierarchy than pretend everything we sell is at the peak.

Our barriers are a blend of both, which is why they break down without needing an industrial composting facility.

We've tested fully bio-based PBAT and other bio-based replacements, and they work. The material isn't the problem. Cost is.

A roll of bio-based bottle bags would cost roughly double a conventional roll right now. That isn't affordable for most of the shops we serve, and an eco option only the busiest studios can buy isn't much of an option.

So we're holding on to the prototypes, and to the manufacturers who can make them, waiting on one of two things: the cost comes down, or we're big enough to absorb the difference. It's a question of when, not whether.

Source: Zumstein et al., Biodegradation of synthetic polymers in soils, Science Advances, 2018

Even though PBAT and PLA are both 100% compostable and biodegradable. They are two different bio materials.

• Source: PLA comes from lactic. PBAT is a copolymer with three different monomers.
• Application aspect: PBAT is used in blow film more often while PLA is more suitable for extrusion/injection/thermoforming/... grade application.
• Properties: PBAT is soft and flexible with low elastic modulus, PLA is hard and rigid.

Our barrier films are a blend of these two bio-plastics which is why they are capable of breaking down on their own, outside of an industrial composting facility.

Yes, bioplastics are just as suitable for use as cross contamination barriers as petroleum plastics are. Viruses and bacteria are too large to pass through bioplastics on a molecular level.  

What is important to note is that within the category of bioplastics and petroleum plastics there is a wide variety of different types of plastic. For example PLA (poly-lactic acid) is the most widely used type of plant based bioplastic on the market, it is compostable and can be produced in many forms including films and hard plastics. It is compostable and made of sustainable materials. PE plastic (polyethylene) is a petroleum based plastic that can also be made into films and hard plastics but is derived from oil and will take hundreds of years to break down. while they are made of different materials they both share similar physical properties that make them excellent barriers. Most importantly these plastics are hydrophilic - meaning they are impervious to liquids. You can wash a PLA bag with soap and water in exactly the same way you'd wash a ziploc bag and its structural integrity will not be compromised. Bioplastics will only begin to decompose once discarded and exposed to bacteria and other natural elements.   

There is no single answer to climate change and the plastic crisis we face; realistically, a mix of all three of these options will make a positive impact.

However, when it comes to items such as razors and barriers that are contaminated with biohazardous materials you cannot recycle them or reuse them; the only option is to send it to a landfill or incenerate it. 

That is why we prefer to use compostables and biodegradables that have been shown to decompose when sent to a landfill.  

Yes.

Most of the damage from conventional plastic happens before it's ever used. According to the OECD, plastics generated 1.8 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, and 90% of that came from producing plastics and converting them into products. Conventional plastics depend on greenhouse gas intensive fossil resources, diesel, residual oil, gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas, to convert crude oil. They also release volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, nitrogen and sulphur oxides, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide along the way.

From an emissions perspective, regular plastic does almost all of its damage before it becomes a usable product.

Plant-based bioplastics start from a different place. As European Bioplastics puts it: "Life cycle analyses show that biobased plastics enable a significant CO2 saving, up to carbon neutrality, compared to conventional plastics, depending on the feedstock, the product and the application."

On the Methane Concern

Some people raise the worry that bioplastics breaking down in landfills add to landfill methane. In context, that's a small problem. Bioplastics are less than 1% of global plastics production, and only a fraction of that is breaking down in landfills.

For scale, food loss and waste across the whole supply chain accounts for somewhere between 6% and 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, depending on the study. That's the scale of the organic waste problem, and it isn't bioplastics.

We don't advocate for compostable and biodegradable products ending up in landfill. We're aware that's the reality in much of North America right now. We advocate for using them because it's how closed loop waste management gets built. The more we substitute bio-based choices for conventional plastic, and the more we learn about composting infrastructure, the more visible better waste management becomes.

Too often people hear conflicting claims about bioplastics, feel defeated, and change nothing. What we need is to be honest about the nuances and the challenges, and get excited about the tools we actually have.

Sources

• OECD, Global Plastics Outlook (2022, using 2019 data)

• European Bioplastics, environment

• Our World in Data, food waste emissions

Because infrastructure follows demand, and because the answer to "does my area compost this?" is that you have to check.

Commercial composting in North America only began in the early 1990s, when a landfill crisis was perceived: lack of space, inefficient use of existing sites, and landfill methane. Given the limits of landfilling, expanding composting and recycling is an inevitable evolution of waste management rather than a nice idea.

What's Actually Available Where You Are

The common story is that composting infrastructure in the US and Canada barely exists and can't handle packaging. That's more pessimistic than the reality, but the reality is genuinely uneven, and it changes year to year. Rather than quote a statistic that will be out of date by the time you read it, check for yourself:

• Find a Composter

• GreenBlue

Composting access in the UK and much of the EU is generally further developed than in North America, with household organics collection more widely established. Your local authority will tell you what they take.

Why We Still Care About This

Used tattoo supplies can't go in compost. They're contaminated, and no facility accepts that. So why does composting infrastructure matter to a tattoo supply company?

Two reasons. Packaging and unused product can go there today. And we see a future where tattoo products enter compost streams, which doesn't arrive unless the infrastructure is built and unless someone is making products ready for it.

For scale on the problem composting exists to solve: food loss and waste across the whole supply chain accounts for somewhere between 6% and 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, depending on the study. That's what's driving investment in composting, and it's why the infrastructure keeps expanding.

Find out what your area accepts. Petition for more. Use products that support the industry's growth. Talking openly about the limits of composting infrastructure is what gets people to learn about their local programs and push to expand them.

Source: Our World in Data, food waste emissions

Biodegradable means something can be broken down by bacteria, fungi or another biological process. On its own, that word says nothing about how long it takes or what conditions it needs.

Compostable means a third party has tested it against a named standard, under defined conditions, within a defined number of days. It's a claim with a test behind it.

Industrially compostable means it needs a commercial facility, where heat, moisture and oxygen are controlled and monitored. In North America the standard is ASTM D6400 or D6868, certified by a body like BPI. In Europe it's EN 13432.

Home compostable means it's been tested to break down in ambient conditions, without controlled heat or moisture. That's a harder test to pass, and it's certified separately, usually by TÜV Austria's OK compost HOME.

Home compostable doesn't mean a product breaks down anywhere. A home compost bin is aerobic and a landfill mostly isn't, so home compostable and landfill biodegradable are two different claims, tested two different ways. A product can hold one and not the other.

Why “Biodegradable” on Its Own Is a Weak Word

It implies something will break down on its own, which is often false, and it gets used on products designed to look eco rather than be eco. That's greenwashing, and it's a leading cause of contamination at compost facilities.

We sell compostable wherever a compostable option exists. We only sell biodegradable as a last resort, when the product can't be made compostable and going without isn't an option.

Gloves are the clearest example. Nitrile can't be made compostable, and no tattooer is working without gloves. So we sell a biodegradable glove, we name the standard behind it, ASTM D5511, and we're specific about the landfill conditions it needs. That's the honest version of the claim.

Ask that of any product making the claim, including ours.

One practical note: thicker products like razors generally need industrial composting if they're made from bioplastics.

Industrial or commercial composting is the system used by cities to process large volumes of organic waste material.

There are basically three techniques used in industrial composting: windrow, in-vessel, and aerated static pile composting.

Industrial composting can process large amounts of waste and it can accommodate virtually any type of organic waste — meat, animal manure, bio-solids, and food scraps, for example. This method of composting controls environmental conditions such as temperature, moisture, and airflow. The material is mechanically turned or mixed to make sure the material is aerated to encourage bacterial activity. Industrial composting is done under controlled environmental conditions. By regulating the amount of heat and moisture of the organic waste materials, facilities can break down organics at a much faster rate than it would otherwise take.

Home composting is a small-scale, unregulated process where an individual or household turns a bin of organics / compostables until it breaks down and becomes soil again. It is important for this process to be aerated (turned so materials are exposed to air) but it is not temperature controlled. Home compostable bio-plastics can be discarded in an industrial facility as well but does not require it.

Mycelium is the growing body of a fungus, a dense network of thread-like strands that spreads through soil or other material. The mushroom you see above ground is just its fruiting body. Mycelium is the rest of the organism.

Its cell walls are built from chitin, the same structural material found in insect exoskeletons, which is what makes it strong.

Grown in a mould with agricultural waste as feedstock, mycelium forms a dense, lightweight material used as a replacement for expanded polystyrene in packaging. It's grown rather than manufactured, it starts from waste, and it biodegrades.

We brought mycelium to tattooing a few years ago and we still experiment with it for prototypes. As the technology matures and the cost comes down, we'll move it from prototype to finished product.

Non-cytotoxic means a material cannot / does not pose any risk to living cells. This terminology is used in our hygienic bio-plastic materials because they have been tested to be safe for skin contact as well as being virus and bacteria protected. 

A carbon sink is anything that absorbs more carbon than it releases. Forests and the ocean are the two big natural ones. Plants pull CO2 out of the air as they grow, and the soil they grow in stores carbon too.

This matters for bioplastics. A plastic made from a plant starts with a crop that absorbed carbon while it grows. A plastic made from oil starts with carbon that was locked underground and is now in the atmosphere.

Composting plays a role too, though not quite the way people assume. The composting process itself releases CO2. The benefit comes when finished compost goes back into soil, where it builds soil organic carbon and improves the soil's ability to hold more.

Choosing products grown from plants rather than refined from oil supports manufacturing with lower greenhouse gas emissions, and it supports the systems that put carbon back where it came from.

In simplest terms, “biologically active” denotes the presence
of microorganisms, i.e., bacteria and fungi. But there also may exist more complex species, including, but not limited to protozoa, worms, insects, and mammals, all of whom can contribute to biodegradation, directly or indirectly.

Anaerobic meanings without the presence of oxygen. So when you hear the term anaerobic digestion or decomposition that means that something is being broken down without requiring oxygen. 

In relation to composting and biodegradability it's important to know if a product can break down with out requiring oxygenation because then it does not necessarily need to be industrially composted to fully break down. 

Ask what's behind the claim, and expect a specific answer.

A product making a real eco claim can tell you three things: which standard it was tested against, who tested or certified it, and how long it took to break down. A product that can't tell you those things is asking you to take its word for it.

Who Does What

Standards are written by:

• ASTM International (ASTM D6400, D6868, D5511)

• CEN, the European Committee for Standardization (EN 13432, EN 17033)

Certification against those standards is issued by:

• BPI, the Biodegradable Products Institute

• TÜV Austria

• DIN CERTCO

• The Compost Manufacturing Alliance

A logo from one of those certifiers means someone independent checked. A standard number on its own means the standard exists, not that this product met it.

Not every credible product carries a certification mark. Certification costs money on top of testing, and small manufacturers often have the test data without the certificate. That's still real evidence, and it's a world apart from a product that just says "eco" with nothing behind it.

Start with the logo. A certification mark from one of those bodies is the strongest signal you can get. If there isn't one, don't stop there. Ask which standard the product was tested against, ask to see the test results, and see whether anyone actually shows you.

See our "certifications" answer for how we handle this with our own products.

Products that actually are eco-responsible have been certified by an official third party organization and will have a certification label displayed on their box. Some of the most recognized third party testers are:

• The Compost Manufacturing Alliance 

• ASTM International

• The Biodegradable products Institute (BPI)

• TüV Austria 

• Din Certco 

• European Standard (EN) 

Only products that have third party testing can claim to be biodegradable or compostable.

It depends what you count, so here are three answers.

Burning the product: around 68%. The UN attributes roughly 68% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and nearly 90% of all carbon dioxide emissions, to coal, oil and gas.

Getting it out of the ground: around 15%. The IEA found that oil and gas operations, meaning extraction, processing and transport before anyone burns the fuel, accounted for about 15% of energy-related emissions in 2022. That's 5.1 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, just to bring the product to market.

Historical responsibility: around 70%. The Carbon Majors database traces roughly 70% of global fossil fuel and cement CO2 emissions since 1751 to 178 entities: 100 investor-owned companies, 72 state-owned entities and 6 nation states.

Here's why this sits on a tattoo supply site. Plastic is not a side effect of the oil industry, it's a growth plan. The IEA has projected that petrochemicals, the feedstock for plastic, would account for over a third of oil demand growth to 2030 and nearly half to 2050, outpacing trucks, aviation and shipping. As transport electrifies, plastic is where the demand goes.

Every plastic ink cap is a small piece of that.

Sources

• United Nations, Causes and Effects of Climate Change
• IEA, Emissions from Oil and Gas Operations in Net Zero Transitions (2023, using 2022 data)
• Carbon Majors database
• IEA, The Future of Petrochemicals (2018)

About 3.4%.

The OECD puts the plastics lifecycle at 1.8 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, which works out to 3.4% of the global total. 90% of that comes from producing plastic and converting it into products, not from what happens after you throw it out.

For scale, Canada's entire national emissions were 694 megatonnes in 2023. Plastic production worldwide emits roughly two and a half times what our whole country does.

Here's how the rest of global emissions broke down in 2019, according to the IPCC:

• Energy supply, 34%: coal and gas power plants, and the extraction and refining of oil and gas itself
• Industry, 24%: steel, cement and chemical manufacturing, which is where plastic production lives
• Agriculture, forestry and land use, 22%: cattle farming, deforestation and land clearing
• Transport, 15%: cars, trucks, planes and ships
• Buildings, 6%: heating, cooling and cooking in homes and offices

Those numbers count emissions where they're released, not where they're used. The IPCC notes that if you reassign electricity and heat to whoever actually consumed it, industry rises to 34% and buildings to 16%.

Plastic isn't on that list, because it isn't its own sector. Its emissions are already counted inside industry and energy supply, mostly as petrochemical feedstock and the heat needed to process it. Plastic isn't a slice sitting beside those numbers. It runs through them.

Sources

• OECD, Global Plastics Outlook: Economic Drivers, Environmental Impacts and Policy Options (2022, using 2019 data)
• IPCC, AR6 Working Group III, Summary for Policymakers, section B.2.1 (2022)
• Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Inventory Report, executive summary (2025 edition, 2023 data)