Compost recommended tests

While the incubation medium is no longer soil, but compost, the teehnique is similar to that which we have just described, with some differences (Figure 14.13). The method recommended in the norm is in fact only an adaptation of the open-circuit Sturm test. Just like the Stiinn test, this system can be entirely automated (Figure 14.14). In this case, the costs are much greater. (It costs at least 60,000 for a battery with 12 units allowing the testing of 2 samples at the same time = 3 controls + 3 cellnloses + 3 samples 1+3 samples 2). 

Disintegrability, namely fragmentation and loss of visibility in the final compost (absence of visual pollution). The standard recommends assessment of disintegration through trials on a pilot or full-scale composting plant. Specimens on the test materials are composted with biowaste for three months. The final compost is then screened with a 2 mm sieve. The mass of test material residues with dimension >2 mm shall be less than 10% of the original mass. 

H. Insam in Test Methods for Proving the Compostability of Packaging -Literature and Recommendations, Ministry for Environment, Youth and Family, Vienna, Austria, 1994. [In German]... 

Table 5.6 Parameters of compost materials used for testing the suitability for biocover construction recommended by Huber-Humer et al. (2009).

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