Home Compostability

PLA articles can be certified to be compostable under these conditions but will not degrade in home composting piles due to the fact that temperatures are too low. 

In June 2005, Mater-Bi polymers were issued with the OK home compost certificate from Belgium s AIB Vincotte international certification institute meaning that it can be used in bags for the recycling of biodegradable organic waste in home compost bins. 

NatureFlex film is available for lidding in a heat sealable bag or wrap format. This material is certified compostable to the European OK Home Compost standard as well as to ASTM D6400 and by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). 

NatureFlex is available in an uncoated form and in three different coated versions providing moisture and gas barrier performance, and is certified to EU and US standards for industrial and home composting. 

This was demonstrated by certificates of various PHA producers for industrial composting and also home composting, as well as in soil, fresh water, and marine seawater conditions. Furthermore, the complete biodegradation profile is often faster than for other biopolymers [11],... 

Mirel P3HB/P4HB Metabolix Inc. www.metabolix.com/ Industrial and home compost, marine, anaerobic digester... 

E.4.3 PHA is compostable, home compostable, and biodegradable in marine waters. If coffee cups at a local coffee shop or restaurant were to use PHA cups, how much of your waste be reduced if you composted the cups at home ... 

Solid waste disposal environments for plastic materials can include industrial compost, home compost, anaerobic digestion, landfill, litter, and ocean water. Only two disposal environments have both biodegradation standards for test methods and biodegradation performance standards, for example, industrial compost and marine biodegradation environments. Test method standards are available for anaerobic digestion, home compost, and landfill environments. The second necessary performance specification standard for biodegradation performance is not available for anaerobic digestion, home compost, or landfill... 

Biodegradation standards are provided in the following sections. The standards are organized based on disposal environment. Thus, the biodegradation standards from different worldwide standards organizations are presented in an industrial compost section, marine environment section, an anaerobic-digestion section, landfill section, and home compost section. 

AIB-Vingotte International has a biodegradable home compost test certification for plastic products that references EN 13432 performance specification and other ISO biodegradable test methods. Biodegradation in soil environments is based on International OK Biodegradable Soil standards. Table 8.7 lists the biodegradation standards for home composing. 

This European certification establishes the performance requirements for biodegradation of plastic materials and products (including packaging, films, and other products) while under cool home composting conditions. The certification specifies modifications to EN 13432. The home compost environment is one that maintains a temperature below 30° C and results in mesophilic conditions. The certification requires the use of EN 14855 (ISO 17088) test method to measure the amount of CO2 that is emitted from the degrading plastic sample. Vingotte home compost certification requires the product must demonstrate each of the four characteristics as follows ... 

The second test procedure for EN 13432 standard specifies that a satisfactory rate of biodegradation of the plastic material that is cool home composting conditions between 20°C and 30°C for 12 months, that is, more than 90% of the carbon in the original plastic sample is converted into CO2 as measured by a CO2 respirometer or wet chemistry methods. The details of the test procedures are listed in ISO 14855, ISO 14851, ISO 14852, or ISO 17566 test methods. 

Home compost specification specifies that a plastic material is compostable if it meets the following specifications ... 

Currently, ASTM does not have a test method or specification for home compost biodegradation. 

Biowaste can also be home composted in smaller installations. Biodegradability reqnirements for plastics nnder home composting conditions are defined by Italian standards UNI 11183 [9] and UNI 11355 [10], which regulate the home composting of biodegradable plastic materials and articles. 

Needless to say, a wide variety of composting plants and cycles, home composting procedures and environments exist. Hence, it has been necessary to establish and fix some parameters (temperature, substrate, pH, microbial population, moisture and so on), in order to obtain reproducible standard laboratory conditions which verify the ability and the potential of different materials to undergo safe biodegradation in the environment where they are allocated for treatment. 

UNI 11355, Home Composting of Biodegradable Plastic Items -Requirements and Test Methods, Ente Nazionale Italiano di Unificazione, Italy, 2010. 

No specification standards exist for home composting, landfill or anaerobic digestion. 

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