Sunday 8 August 2021

Composting Biodegradable Polymers – Helpful Standards

Hello and welcome to this blog post on biodegradable plastics and their related standards. In one of my last blog posts we discussed the difference between the standards EN16785-1 (bio-based content) and ASTM D6866/EN 16640 (bio-based carbon content). Today we have a closer look at ASTM D6868, ASTM D 6400, EN 13 432, ISO 17 088 and what it means for composting biodegradable polymers.

In general, biopolymers can be biodegradable or non-biodegradable as well as made from renewable sources or from fossil-based resources. This is shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Overview classification of biopolymers [1].

Standards for composting of biodegradable polymers

Apart from the estimation of the bio content, clarification of compostability after usage of the product is the next key topic for biodegradable plastics.

In Table 1, the most important ASTM / EN standards are shown to help you guide through the jungle of standards.

For example, ASTM D6868 standard is used for labeling of products that consist out of biodegradable plastics and polymers together with paper and other carriers intended for aerobically composition in municipal or industrial facilities. The products also include packaging applications. Performance of the materials in terms of compostability or biodegradability is not covered by this standard, only labelling.

Table 1: standards for composting of biodegradable polymers.

Update: ISO 17088 has been revised in 2012 and more recently in 2021.

Thanks for reading and #findoutaboutplastics

Greetings,

Herwig

#biopolymers #herwigjuster

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Literature:

[1] https://bpiworld.org/page-190424

[2] https://www.astm.org/Standards/D6868.htm

[3] https://bpiworld.org/page-190422

[4] https://docs.european-bioplastics.org/publications/bp/EUBP_BP_En_13432.pdf

[5] https://www.iso.org/standard/43373.html



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