ITENE obtains DIN CERTCO certification for compostability testing Home

Companies producing raw materials or packaging can prove that their products can be domestically composted.

The research centre ITENE has obtained the certification of DIN CERTCO, an independent entity of international reference, to be able to carry out in its laboratories the home compostability tests, which is added to the industrial compostability tests obtained by the same organization in 2015.

This certification, called DIN-Geprüft Home Compostable, guarantees the biodegradability of products obtained through a home composting process. In this way, companies producing raw materials or packaging manufacturers can prove that the product that reaches the end consumer can be composted by the consumer at home and without the need to take the waste to specialised plants for recycling.

To compost a product, specific and controllable conditions are required so that the waste is degraded by the action of micro-organisms and can be used as organic fertiliser.

Thus, home compostability testing can be applied for different types of materials, whether cellulosic or plastic, and also for different types of additives and products, such as packaging, shopping bags or single-use utensils. The companies requiring this type of testing are mostly manufacturers of packaging and packaging raw materials.

Regarding this new certification obtained by ITENE, the head of Testing Services, Amparo Gala, has highlighted that these tests “allow companies to meet the market demands and the 2030 objectives of the European Union established in the European Plastics Strategy for a circular economy, which states that by 2030 all packaging marketed in the European Union should be reusable, recyclable or compostable”.

The certification granted by DIN CERTCO is based on the international standard NF T51-800 “Plastics – Specifications for plastics suitable for home composting” and the tests consist of chemical characterisation tests, final biodegradability, disintegration under laboratory scale conditions, compatibility with plants (ecotoxicity test) and tests that guarantee that the compost produced favours the normal growth of plants.

The ITENE research centre is now able to carry out test reports recognised by TÜV AUSTRIA, DIN CERTCO, BPI and European Bioplastics. The laboratories are also OK Compost HOME certified by TÜV Austria and certified for industrial composting by the above mentioned international organisations.

Furthermore, ITENE is currently the only centre in Spain accredited by ENAC to carry out compostability tests in its four phases based on the standard ‘UNE-EN 13432 Packaging. Requirements for containers and packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation. Test programme and evaluation criteria for the final acceptance of the packaging’.