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Standards for Soil Biodegradable Plastics

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Soil Degradable Bioplastics for a Sustainable Modern Agriculture

Part of the book series: Green Chemistry and Sustainable Technology ((GCST))

Abstract

The main standard test methods for biodegradation of plastics in soil (ISO 17556, ASTM D5988, NF U52-001 and UNI 11462) determine the rate of biodegradation under normalized conditions. The standard testing procedures are designed to determine the inherent biodegradability of plastics in soil under optimal controlled conditions that may not be necessarily representative of any specific environmental conditions but they ensure repeatability. The normalized conditions defined by the standard test methods differ in several aspects. A comparative analysis is presented. Besides the biodegradation test methods, pass levels and a time frame also need to be defined in order to determine whether bio-based products will biodegrade sufficiently under soil conditions. There is currently no European or international specification that defines criteria for biodegradation of bio-based products in soil. Criteria for biodegradation of materials used in agriculture and horticulture are only defined in standard specifications NF U52-001 and UNI 11462, together with criteria for environmental safety. However, the evaluation of the biodegradation in soil is not obligatory in the French specification. The main requirements for mulching films are: (1) biodegradation at least 90% within 24 months; (2) material shall not contain heavy metal, no ecotoxicological effects. The same requirements have been adopted by the USDA-AMS National Organic Program (NOP) for mulching films allowed for organic crop production. The constraints, gaps, and limitations of existing relevant testing methods and the new developments are identified and analyzed in this chapter. Functional barriers with respect to standards and labeling for soil biodegradable plastics are analyzed.

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Acknowledgments

Part of this work is based on the relevant state-of-the-art review carried out within the framework of the KBBPPS project supported by the European Commission through the FP7 Programme (FP7-KBBE-2013-312060). Special thanks are due to Nike Mortier and Bruno De Wilde (OWS) and to Antonis Mistriotis (AUA), for contributing to the corresponding work of KBBPPS [19, 21].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Engineering Department, Agricultural University of Athens, 75 lera Odos, 11855, Athens, Greece

    Demetres Briassoulis

  2. Novamont S.p.A., via Fauser 8, 28100, Novara, Italy

    Francesco Degli Innocenti

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  1. Demetres Briassoulis
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  2. Francesco Degli Innocenti
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Correspondence to Demetres Briassoulis .

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  1. Institute for Polymers, Composites and Biomaterials (IPCB-CNR), Pozzuoli, Italy

    Mario Malinconico

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Briassoulis, D., Degli Innocenti, F. (2017). Standards for Soil Biodegradable Plastics. In: Malinconico, M. (eds) Soil Degradable Bioplastics for a Sustainable Modern Agriculture. Green Chemistry and Sustainable Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-54130-2_6

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