What are compostable biodegradable materials?

Jun 23 - 2020

What are compostable biodegradable materials?

Composting is an aerobic treatment method that produces compost. Compostable refers to the ability of a material to be biodegraded during the composting process. A material includes paper, plastic, etc. If compostability is claimed, it must be stated that the material can biodegrade and disintegrate in the composting system (as indicated by standard test methods) and that the compost is fully biodegradable when it is finally used. Compost must meet relevant quality standards. Quality standards such as low heavy metal content, no biological toxicity, and no clearly distinguishable residues.

The compost is an organic soil conditioner obtained by biodegradation of the mixture. The mixture consists mainly of plant residues, sometimes containing some organic material and some inorganic material. The raw material for eco cutlery composting can be urban and rural organic solid waste, such as crop straw, rural farming manure, urban household waste, kitchen waste, municipal sludge, food industry waste, etc.

Composting produces a treatment method of composting is a biochemical process that uses microorganisms that are widely available in nature to promote the conversion of degradable organic matter in solid waste into stable humus in a controlled manner. According to the growth process of microorganisms and whether to give oxygen, composting can be divided into aerobic composting and anaerobic composting. Aerobic composting is the process of organic matter decomposition in the presence of oxygen, and the end products are CO2, H2O, heat and humus. Anaerobic composting is the degradation of organic matter into CH4.CO2.H2O.heat and humus by anaerobic microorganisms under anaerobic conditions. Generally, composting refers to aerobic composting.

Industrial composting is the process of aerobic medium- or high-temperature degradation of solid and semi-solid organic matter by microorganisms under controlled conditions to produce stable humus. The general cycle is 180 days, but with variations in aerobic composting technology, the minimum time is 30 days or even less.

Home composting is a composting process that primarily uses household food waste or garden waste for aerobic composting for its own production. Home composting takes longer than industrial composting, but generally the maximum time is not more than one year.

Whether industrial or home composting, the organic waste processed has its own physical characteristics.

There are generally three aspects of compost degradation:material degradation test, material disintegration test, and post-degradation planting test. Only materials that pass all three aspects can be called biodegradable materials. There are five types of biodegradable materials:PLA (with PGA), PBAT (with PBS.PBSA), PHA (with PHB, etc.). .PCL.PPC, etc.

By:Jacqueline