As we’ve mentioned before, humanity is at a critical juncture with plastics. Fomented by creative destruction and a widespread urgency to end the plastic-pollution crisis, some single-use plastics are entering an extinction phase, albeit slowly. Predicting a date when the last plastic straw squeezes out of an extrusion machine, or when the final piece of plastic food packaging falls into a landfill is near impossible. However, one phenomenon has already lifted off: the burgeoning popularity of home and garden compostable (H&G) packaging.
Every bioplastic-product producer wants their goods to don a coveted H&G compostable certification stamp. This is because a growing chorus of consumers, regulatory bodies, and commercial composting businesses are emphasizing that commercial/industrial compostable certifications just aren’t enough. Commercial composting businesses utilize various composting methods. Some operations might apply several aerating machines to static piles, others might not use any aerating machines, and some might even place certain compostables into heating vessels for weeks at a time. The latter composting method can be used to properly degrade certain PLA products.
H&G compost operations don’t vary like commercial compost ones. To earn an H&G certification, a product must biodegrade in a simple home and garden composting pile containing organic matter without the use of aerators or vessels, in a specified time frame. Today, three major H&G compostable certifiers exist: the Australasian Bioplastics Association (issuing the AS5810), TÜV Rheinland, and TÜV Austria (both issuing the NF T800:215). One of these certifiers stands head and shoulders above the other two because it takes into consideration how the composted product will affect plant and animal health : the Australasian Bioplastics Association, issuing the AS5810. Therefore, we advocate that consumers only purchase H&G compostable products that have earned the lofty AS5810.
How does the AS5810 take animal and plant health into consideration? When the lab confirms that the candidate’s products biodegrade in less than 360 days, the scientists introduce earthworms and plants into the resulting compost. After some time, the scientists measure the mass of the plants and earthworms living in the compost. Then, they compare the masses of these living things to the masses of plants and earthworms in soil that doesn’t contain the degraded product—aka healthy, nutrient-rich soil found in a pristine natural environment. If the masses of the earthworms and plants in the compost with the biodegraded product weigh 90% less than earthworms and plants in natural soil, the product fails.
The AS5810 requires a product to biodegrade into a healthy and nutritious soil input—just like organic matter in the wild—that will not harm plant and animal life. Ultimately, this profound requirement has significant implications for those producing compostable products. This certification follows that mantra that compostable products must be held to a difficult-to-reach and stringent standard. Such a standard ensures that a product’s effect as biodegraded compost on plant and animal life is positive.
Importantly, a product’s biodegradation time is not the only factor. The AS5810 is the most coveted in the world because it sets and meets a stringent standard. It accounts for a biodegraded product’s effect on the environment. Therefore, all consumers should place more value and importance on and only purchase AS5810-certified products.
The Island Leaf team happily markets and sells AS5810-certified Lastic® BAMBOO products. Lastic® BAMBOO products with a wall-thickness of 1.17mm or less are certified with the AS5810. Manufacturers or distributors looking to profoundly change their product portfolio to one of sustainable environmentally friendliness need look no further. Send the Island Leaf Team a message today!
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