Compost

What does composting mean?

The term compostable means that a material is compatible with a composting process. The European standard EN 13432 defines the characteristics a finished product must fulfil in order to be recovered through organic recovery. Compostable means that a material A, is biodegradable under composting conditions. B, disintegrates completely in one composting cycle. C, has no toxic effects and does not release heavy metals over a given value into the compost D, has no negative effect on the composting process itself.

What is the difference between compostable and biodegradable?

If a material is compostable it is automatically considered as biodegradable and can be recovered in a composting process. A biodegradable material will break down under the action of micro-organisms, but could leave residues after one composting cycle and no guarantee for toxic residues can be given. Therefore a biodegradable material cannot automatically be considered to be compostable before proof of its compostability has been given according to existing standards (EN13432).The term biodegradable is very often misused in marketing and advertising of products and materials that are not actually environmentally friendly. This is why BioBag more often uses the term compostable when describing our products. All of BioBag’s products are third-party certified compostable.

How long do compostable bags take to compost?

These should completely degrade in 90 days in a compost bin that maintains a minimum temperature of 45°C. Some are claimed to degrade in as little as 10-45 days depending the composting system used.

Can you compost compostable bags at home?

Compostablebags are truly compostable. In other words, you can't just throw a biodegradable bag on your compost pile and think it will decompose. It can't; the temperature won't get hot enough. But compostable trash bags will turn into compost over time.

90 Days to Decomposition

Compost products meet European home compost standards, which means they will completely degrade in 90 days in a compost pile that maintains a minimum temperature of 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit).