Featured FAQ: What is “Compostable”?
Posted by Eco-Products on Feb 15th 2022
Eco-Products considers a product to be compostable if there is scientific evidence that the product will break down or become part of stable compost in a safe and timely manner, in a properly managed commercial composting facility. (If that language looks familiar, it’s because we basically lifted copy from the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides.)
What counts as scientific evidence?
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For us, the minimum is ASTM International standards for compostability: ASTM D6400 for bioplastic and ASTM D6868 for fiber-based items (with or without bioplastic).
The only exception to our ASTM requirement are items that are considered “generally accepted as compostable.” This would be our wooden stir sticks and napkins – natural fiber items that most composters accept without question. |
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For items that are designed to meet BPI’s requirements for compostability, we are committed to earning BPI certification. This includes all of our cold, paper, and soup cups; PLA and fiber lids; PLA cutlery; liners; coffee sleeves; and Vanguard™ molded fiber.
Our standard, non-Vanguard molded-fiber products use FDA-approved compounds to achieve grease resistance that do not meet BPI requirements. Therefore, these molded fiber items are not BPI-certified compostable. However, they do meet ASTM standards, so we still consider them to be compostable. |
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We submit all of our BPI-certified items to the Compost Manufacturing Alliance (CMA) for field testing.
The CMA is a nationwide partnership of compost manufacturing facilities providing field disintegration testing for foodservice products across the country. CMA’s mission is to make compost manufacturing more sustainable by working proactively to field-test compostable products in real-world compost processing technologies. We were one of the first supporters of CMA as we see value in having composters test and confirm that our products break down successfully at their facilities. This is a valuable complement to the lab-based BPI certification, which we have long used as third-party validation of compostability. |
Is compostable the same as biodegradable?
In short, no. Biodegradable things, like food and leaves, break down and decompose into elements found in nature when they’re exposed to sunlight, air, moisture, certain bacteria, or other organisms. The FTC says marketers can say their product is “degradable” or “biodegradable,” without qualification only if they can prove that the entire product or package will completely break down and return to nature within one year. Items destined for landfills, incinerators, or recycling facilities will not degrade within a year, so unqualified biodegradable claims for them shouldn’t be made. Our products need to go to a compost facility to break down, so “compostable” is the preferred term.
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