Ten months ago, we began publishing weekly editions of The Bamboo Press. One crucial and repeating topic is compostability certifications.
We've driven home the critical importance that possessing compostability certifications holds. If a product claiming to be "biodegradable," "home compostable," "backyard compostable," or "compostable" doesn't have a certification from a reputable agency, along with a registration number to match, we advocate that consumers avoid purchasing it.
Lastic® holds significant and highly respected compostability certifications for its bamboo resin. The first is BPI World's Commercial Compostability Certification. Lastic®'s products earned this certification by proving that they decompose 90% in less than six months in commercial composting settings. The second is DIN CERTCO's Home and Garden Compostable Certification. This vaunted certification verifies that a product will decompose by 90% in an individual's private home, garden, or backyard composting set-up in less than six months; it also proves that earthworms aren't harmed during a product's decomposition into the soil. Finally, we must note that Lastic® also holds DIN CERTCO's Commercial Compostable Certification. One of the main differences between BPI World's Commercial Compostable Certification and DIN's is that DIN tests against the Australian and European commercial composting standards, while BPI tests against the US ones.
Earning both a commercial and home and garden compostable certification is essential. Many commercial composting sites exist in the US, so BPI-certified products are shoo-ins for them. These commercial composting sites greatly serve highly concentrated urban areas like New York, Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Many people in these cities don't have enough space to undertake home and garden compost projects. And commercial composting businesses provide valuable inputs (compost) to sell to nearby farms or other agricultural businesses. Thus, commercial composting businesses significantly contribute to the circular economy.
A Home and Garden (H&G) Compostable Certification ensures a product will decompose by 90% in under six months in home and garden composting conditions. H&G compostable products greatly appeal to people without access to or no need for a commercial composting subscription.
One of the significant differences between H&G compositing set-ups and commercial composting businesses is scale—several piles of disintegrating organic matter adorn a typical commercial composting site. Each pile can exceed the size of a 40' shipping container! The scale has several implications for biodegradation time because the more products and materials that get heaped onto each pile, the more heat they generate within the pile. Remember from chemistry, kids, that the biodegradation of organic matter is an exothermic reaction: it gives off heat. Often, the temperature of a typical commercial compost pile, even just a few inches below the surface, can reach temperatures of about 50°C.
So far, we've dedicated a few hundred words to hashing out H&G and Commercial Compostabilities' differences. We'll end here for today. Next week, we'll conclude with the advantages of the respective above certifications. We'll see you then!
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