Page "Biopolymer" Paragraph 20

Biopolymers are biodegradable, and some are also compostable.

Some biopolymers are biodegradable: they are broken down into CO < sub > 2 </ sub > and water by microorganisms.

Some of these biodegradable biopolymers are compostable: they can be put into an industrial composting process and will break down by 90 % within six months.

Biopolymers that do this can be marked with a ' compostable ' symbol, under European Standard EN 13432 ( 2000 ).

Packaging marked with this symbol can be put into industrial composting processes and will break down within six months or less.

An example of a compostable polymer is PLA film under 20μm thick: films which are thicker than that do not qualify as compostable, even though they are biodegradable.

In Europe there is a home composting standard and associated logo that enables consumers to identify and dispose of packaging in their compost heap.