BPI News Library

The attached report (link below) from Organic Waste Systems (Gent, Belgium) evaluates a 20-micron thick Goody bag vs. two certified compostable bags and a paper bag under aerobic composting conditions. The report clearly shows that bags with additives from Goody Products in Australia are not compostable and will generate large amounts of plastic residues.

Report is republished with permission from BASF Corporation.

OWS Test Results on Goody Bags - Total report-GS-15-2-ed2r.pdf

Lately, the BPI and its members are seeing an increasing number of “biodegradable” claims, relating to plastic bags and other plastic items. Manufacturer claims include phrases like “biodegrades in landfills” or “reduces the impact of litter because they are biodegradable”. The BPI is increasingly concerned by these claims not only in the US but also in Canada.

Click here for BPI position on biodegradabilty.pdf

The $3.5 billion Southern California supermarket chain Stater Bros. recently discussed their six-month old waste reduction/recycling program that is using food-waste composting to successfully divert more than 18 tons of biodegradable wastes from local landfills.

In an article by Cassie MacDuff of the Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise, Stater Brother’s regional vice president, Keith Thomas, was quoted as saying the 167-store chain is on track to divert almost 77% of in-store waste -- produce trimmings, blemished fruit, dairy products past their use-by dates – by the program’s April 22 anniversary.

“About 85 percent of what goes into Stater Bros. compost is produce,” said Thomas. “The rest is cottage cheese, yogurt, waxed cardboard and anything biodegradable except meat, milk or liquids.”

Read about Stater Brothers Supermarket Composting Program here.

The 17^th Annual BEPS Meeting will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel.  The meeting will be co-sponsored by the BPI.  Meeting attendees will enjoy a motivating plenary session followed by a variety of scientific and industrial presentations throughout the week.  Attendees will receive an abstract book at the meeting; a CD containing the meeting presentations will be mailed to registered attendees following the meeting.

Presentations will cover  Nanocomposites, Standards, Definitions and Methods, Biopolymer Blends, Composting and Anaerobic Digestion, Cellulose Polymers and Composites, PHA-Based Materials, Biobased Paper, Packaging, and Coating Technology, PLA-Based Materials, Processing of Biobased Polymers and Plastics, Natural Fiber Composites, Soybean Based Materials, Carbohydrate Based Materials and Synthetic Plastics and the Environment.

Click here to download for more details.

For most of the seven-county Twin Cities (Minnesota) metropolitan area, 2009 will be the final season for those ubiquitous black plastic bags when collecting yard trimmings.  Even those bags that are touted as "biodegradable" will be banned for grass clippings and leaves. 

A new law goes into effect January 1, 2010 that will require yard waste bags be made of compostable materials, in an effort to create an organic waste stream free of black plastic and in turn higher quality compost. Residents are still free to use paper bags or reusable containers. They can even drop off plastic bags as long as they remove the yard trimmings and take the bags home. In 2010 homeowners and lawn services will be expected to switch to paper leaf bags or plastic ones made of corn resin or other natural products.

You can read the full story on the KARE11.com website.

The BPI has created a special webpage with Minnesota retailers that sell BPI-certified compostable bags that comply with the new regulations.

You can watch a KARE TV11 (Minneapolis) TV interview with the bill's author, Rep. Paul Gardner, at the KARE TV 11 Website.

"With major companies like Solo Cup, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart (in Canada), Whole Foods, International Paper, Glad and Dixie Cup offering branded compostable products, there is overwhelming evidence that this marketplace (biodegradable products) has gone mainstream."

This is the central conclusion of a feature article written by Rhodes Yepsen in the August issue of BioCycle Magazine.

According to the story, manufacturers, consumers and composters are also paying more attention to whether the products are actually compostable, seeking out the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) logo.

“The composting industry increasingly understands that BPI-approved products will compost appropriately, and that products with faulty claims stand out on the screens at the end,” says Steven A. Mojo, executive director of the BPI. “This is coupled with legislation in California and Minnesota allowing ASTM D6400 compliant compostable bags in municipal programs instead of ordinary plastic bags. And a number of major retailers like Wal-Mart and Shopper’s Drug Mart in Canada and Whole Foods are utilizing BPI-approved compostable products for their store brand, showing that a broader range of customers are paying attention.”

BPI’s website (bpiworld.org) currently features 25 bag manufacturers, 27 companies making foodservice items and packaging films, and 19 resin manufacturers. To put this in perspective, BioCycle’s July 2007 article on compostable products reported 12 bag manufacturers and 12 companies making foodservice products and film.  

To read the entire story, click the link "Compostable Products Go Mainstream". (registration on 3rd party website is required to download the entire two-part story as a pdf)

This letter to the editor is in response to the article originally published in FoodProductionDaily.com on August 4, 2009 and reported in GreenerPackage.com, regarding Dr. Scott’s comments on ASTM D6954. While  his comments are partially correct, Dr. Scott’s interpretation of the document is incorrect.

Complete letter to the editor of Food Packaging Production Aug 09.pdf

As background, I collaborated with Graham Swift (a former Board Member of EPI, an oxo additive supplier) to create this standard, along with other members of the ASTM sub-committee D20.96.

We worked for a 2-3 years to create this document, which is titled:

    * “Standard Guide for Exposing and Testing Plastics that Degrade in the Environment by a Combination of Oxidation and Biodegradation”

What is important to recognize is that this document is a “Standard Guide” and not a “Standard Specification”. While this document is a recognized ASTM Standard, as a guide, ASTM D6954 does not contain any pass/fail criteria, as are found in specifications such as ASTM D6400 or the CEN Norm, EN 13432

In 2003, using the Tier 1 tests in the proposed ASTM “Guide for Environmentally Oxo-biodegradable Plastics”, the Advanced Materials Center, Ottawa IL (AMC) studied the performance of oxo-degradable films at different temperatures and under high and low humidity conditions. For these tests, bags containing EPI’s TDPA (Totally Degradable Plastic Additives) were used. These were purchased from a distributor in the Northeast.

Tier 1 tests are designed to promote or accelerate oxidation of oxo-degradable materials prior to placing the materials in bio-meters to measure the rate of biodegradation. The loss of tensile strength is the signal that oxidation and chain scission are occurring. This step must take place prior to becoming able to be biodegraded.

Click here to read the BPI report on biodegradability claims of 'oxo-biodegradable' products.

Recently the Wall Street Journal published a review about the confusing range of "eco-certification" programs and schemes facing consumers and packaged good providers.

The story cited the BPI’s Compostable Logo program as one of 15 green-label programs recognized by leading corporations and environmental groups as a good benchmark for accurate certification of environmental claims.

The Federal Court of Australia declared on March 30 that a director who approved her company’s advertising had been knowingly made false and misleading claims about biodegradability.  Ms Charishma Seneviratne, while a director of SeNevens International Ltd, approved the company’s claim that the whole of its Safeties Nature Nappy product was biodegradable, when she knew that was not the case.

Justice Marshall has imposed a five-year injunction on Ms Seneviratne restraining her from being party to any nappy biodegradability claims without first having received independent scientific testing of the product being promoted.

ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel said: “This case serves to emphasise that directors cannot hide behind their companies. If a director or employee is knowingly concerned in their company’s misleading conduct, then those individuals also risk personal fines and injunctions.

The (Australian) Federal Court had previously declared that the company had engaged in false or misleading conduct by making representations that the Safeties Nature Nappy was ‘100% biodegradable’.

Justice Marshall had previously declared that the biodegradability claims were false and misleading because SeNevens’ Safeties Nature Nappy range contained plastic components that are not capable of being broken down by the biological activity of living organisms.

Senevens marketed its ‘100% biodegradable’ nappy and nappy disposal bag in Western Australia from November 2006 before expanding to all Australian States and the ACT in March 2007. SeNevens withdrew the product from sale in April 2008 after the ACCC’s investigation into the claims.

Justice Marshall found that in making the claims SeNevens contravened sections 52 and 53 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 by engaging in misleading conduct about the biodegradability of its Safeties Nature Nappy. Justice Marshall imposed injunctions on SeNevens restraining it from engaging in similar conduct and ordered that SeNevens publish a corrective advertisement and establish a trade practices compliance program.

“Consumers are actively choosing products that are environmentally friendly.  If a business makes biodegradability claims then it must ensure the claims are supported by rigorous scientific evidence.”