EN 13432 Requirements for Packaging Recoverable by Composting and Biodegradation

EUROLAB laboratory provides testing and compliance services within the scope of EN 13432 standard. The EN 13432 standard specifies the requirements and procedures for determining the compostability and anaerobic treatability of packaging and packaging materials. It considers the following properties: biodegradability, degradation during biological treatment, impact on the biological treatment process and impact on the quality of the resulting compost.

Typical examples of compostable plastics are cellulose films, starch blends, polylactic acid and PBAT4. Biodegradability does not depend on the origin of the material, but only on its chemical makeup. The term bioplastic therefore refers to plastics that are either biobased, biodegradable, or both.

It aims to demonstrate that the requirements for bioplastics to be certified according to EN 13432 are well defined and more than sufficient to make it workable for industrial composting. In addition, EN 13432 certified packages and bags can contribute positively to the greater collection of organic waste, which can lead to diverting organic waste from landfills to biological treatment, thereby reducing methane emissions from landfills.

This document focuses only on the performance of EN 13432 certified plastics in industrial composting and does not consider their suitability for home composting or other disposal methods. The document begins by introducing the most important aspects of EN 13432 and provides insight into existing composting infrastructures and mechanisms.

The requirements for certification of bioplastics as compostable are well established and proven in different field tests. The European standard EN 13432 defines the minimum requirements that packaging must meet for processing with industrial composting. Similar requirements exist in the European Standard EN 14995 for unpackaged plastic products.

According to these standards, compostable plastic materials should have the following properties:

• Biodegradability is the capacity of a material to be converted into carbon dioxide (CO2) by the action of microorganisms under the same process that occurs in natural waste.
• Degradability, i.e. decomposition and invisibility (no visual contamination) in the final compost
• No negative effects on the composting process
• Almost complete absence of heavy metals and no adverse effects on compost quality

Each of these requirements must be met simultaneously for a material to be defined as compostable.

The EN 13432 standard is a harmonized technical standard, that is, published in the Official Journal of the European Community and therefore must be implemented in Europe by national standardization bodies. It is also assumed that materials complying with this standard comply with the European Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste.

EUROLAB, with its more than 25 years of experience, state-of-the-art accredited laboratories and expert team, helps you get precise and fast results. Do not hesitate to contact our laboratory for your testing and certification requests.