Waste Management 27 (2007) 1486–1493

www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

Determining biodegradability of plastic materials under controlled

and natural composting environments
R. Mohee 1, G. Unmar *

Department of Chemical and Sugar Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius

Accepted 28 July 2006

Available online 28 September 2006

Abstract

With the advent of recently promulgated Government regulations on plastics in Mauritius, a study was initiated to examine the bio-
degradability of two different types of plastic, namely Willow Ridge Plastics – PDQ-H additive (Plastic A) and Ecosafe Plastic – TDPA
additive (Plastic B) under controlled and natural composting environments. The results obtained from the controlled composting envi-
ronment showed that the cumulative carbon dioxide evolution for Plastic A was much higher than that for Plastic B. Plastic A therefore
showed a higher level of biodegradation in terms of CO2 evolution than Plastic B. However, from the regression analysis, it was found
that the level of CO2 varying with time fitted the sigmoid type curves with very high correlation coefficients (R2 values: 0.9928, 0.9921 and
0.9816, for reference material, inoculum and Plastic A, respectively). The corresponding F-values obtained from the ANOVA analysis
together with significance levels of p < 0.05 indicated that the three treatments analysed in the biodegradability experiment were signif-
icant. The other experiment was undertaken to observe any physical change of Plastics A and B as compared to a reference plastic,
namely, compostable plastic bag (Mater-Bi product-Plastic C), when exposed to a natural composting environment. Thermophilic tem-
peratures were obtained for about 3–5 days of composting and the moisture content was in the range of 60–80% throughout the deg-
radation process. It was observed that after 55 days of composting, Plastic C degraded completely while Plastic A and Plastic B did
not undergo any significant degradation. It can be concluded that naturally based plastic made of starch would degrade completely
in a time frame of 60 days, whereas plastics with biodegradable additive would require a longer time.
 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Plastics are inert, that is resistant to biodegradation; dura-

ble, hygienic, lightweight, cheap, and malleable. However,
Every year, in Mauritius, large quantities of plastics are the main environmental disadvantage of plastic materials
disposed in the landfill at Mare Chicose. Plastic wastes con- is that they do not readily break down in the environment
stitute around 8% by weight (or 100 tonnes) of the total and therefore can litter the natural environment.
solid waste generated daily (Ministry of Environment, In Mauritius, the plastic bag industry is comprised of 28
2003). The amount of plastic carry-bags disposed at the enterprises manufacturing plastic carry bags, out of which
landfill is approximately 1000 tonnes annually, while the 19 produce high density polyethylene (HDPE) for the local
local plastic industries generate around 250–300 million market, while the remaining ones produce low density
plastic carry bags per annum. polyethylene (LDPE) for export.
Plastics are composed mainly of the following elements: The Ministry of Environment (MoE) in Mauritius
carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, chlorine and bromine. recently passed regulations on plastic bags whereby only
degradable plastic bags made from non-toxic, non-tinting
*
additive, having a minimum thickness of 20 lm, with a tol-
Corresponding author. Tel.: +230 4541041x1294; fax: +230 4651744. erance of 20% before degradation, will be authorized for
E-mail addresses: rmh@uom.ac.mu (R. Mohee), gsomaroo@yahoo.
co.in (G. Unmar). utilisation. The standard for plastic carry bags in the Gov-
1
Tel.: +230 4541041x1540; fax: +230 4651744. ernment Notices 2004, Schedule (regulations 2, 3 and 4)

0956-053X/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2006.07.023
 R. Mohee, G. Unmar / Waste Management 27 (2007) 1486–1493 1487

stipulates that the ‘vest-type’ plastic carrier bag is expected two test methods to measure the degradability of plastics.
to totally degrade within a period of 12 months when The first method, involved a laboratory procedure for mea-
exposed to aerobic or anaerobic conditions including expo- suring the disintegratability of plastics under composting
sure in a landfill or regulated dumping area. conditions, which can be obtained from calculating the dif-
Since then, many local plastic industries have been pro- ference between the initial test material weight and the
ducing various types of degradable and/or partially weight of the recovered fraction. The second method was
degradable, as well as totally biodegradable, plastic bags concerned with an improvement of the ISO 14855 through
by using additives from other countries to render the plas- the use of vermiculite (as inoculum), which is a clay mineral
tic degradable. All over the world, industries are using var- matrix. Mohee (1998) determined the biodegradability
ious systems to manufacture biodegradable bags. Om coefficient by using a real-life composting environment.
Bioplast Ltd in Pune uses carbohydrates to manufacture This study consisted of determining the reaction rates con-
plastic, which disintegrate under UV radiation and which stants by using an experimental analysis of oxygen uptake
are also degraded by microorganisms. ECOSAC LTD, offi- rates at different incubation temperatures and C/N ratios
cial supplier of Ecosac Biodegradable/Compostable Pack- for bagasse and a mixture of bagasse/broiler litter. Then,
aging in the UK and Ireland, manufactures Ecosacs from the biodegradability coefficient from field scale data was
renewable resources: GM-free maize. In the US, BIOgrou- evaluated.
pUSA is the sales partner for Europe’s major manufacturer Heerenklage et al. (2000) described two different bench-
of 100% biodegradable and 100% compostable ‘‘plastic’’ scale test systems that respect the ISO CD 14853 (version
bags and films produced from the material Materbi, the 01.12.1997) in order to determine the biodegradability
main component of which is cornstarch. under anaerobic conditions, through the determination of
In this context, a study has been carried out to assess the gas production. The two methods used were: gas measure-
biodegradability of two types of plastics that have been ment using Eudiometer (the principle of displacement vol-
manufactured in Mauritius from two different additives. ume) and measurement of gas production by determining
gas pressure. This paper has thus shown that these two test
2. Literature review systems can be used for determining the biodegradability of
organic substances according to ISO CD 14853. Silveira
2.1. Biodegradability techniques et al. (2000) highlighted the importance of continuously
monitoring the CO2 production rate for the evaluation of
The biodegradability of organic substances is the degree substrate biodegradability, by the bench-scale composting
of the changes in physical and chemical characteristics and system, which consisted of five reactors (2 L each)
molecular structure of organic substances under degrada- immersed in a circulating water bath. The temperature of
tion by microorganisms. Fig. 1 illustrates the biodegrada- the substrate was kept constant at 25 C and 40 C by con-
tion processes of organic substances under aerobic trolling the temperature of the water. Air was continuously
conditions (Jiang et al., 2002). Assessment of the biode- forced in each reactor at a constant flow rate of 250 ml/min
gradability of biodegradable plastic bags under aerobic providing a CO2 concentration of less than 10% in the out-
or anaerobic conditions is very important if these materials let air. The outlet air was cooled before being passed
are going to be biologically treated in the future. Various through a CO2 infrared analyser and a mass flowmeter.
studies have been carried out to test the biodegradability This bench-scale composting system presented in this paper
coefficient. For instance, Nakasaki et al. (2000) calculated produced satisfactory results.
biodegradability through the measurement of carbon diox-
ide evolution by passing the exhaust gas from the compost 2.2. Composting of biodegradable plastics
reactor through a conical flask with sulphuric acid solution
to absorb ammonia, which was then introduced into an Biodegradability is tied to a specific environment. For
infrared analyzer. Degli-Innocenti et al. (2000) developed instance, the usual biodegradation time requirement for
bioplastic to be composted is 1 to 6 months (Institute for
Prospective Technological Studies, Spain). Vikman et al.
(2002) mentioned that for some polymers, a relatively high
temperature is necessary to initiate the degradation pro-
cess. The degradability of a biodegradable plastic depends
not only on the specific kind of plastic, but also on the
operational conditions of the composting process such as
temperature and the kind of inoculum used (Nakasaki
et al., 1997). In North America and Europe, the compo-
sting infrastructure is a key feature in the ultimate disposal
of biodegradable polymers. In Europe, some countries
Fig. 1. Aerobic biodegradation of organic substances Source: Degli- allow the addition of paper and biodegradable polymers
Innocenti et al., 2000. to the biowaste fraction (Venelampi et al., 2003). Wilde
1488 R. Mohee, G. Unmar / Waste Management 27 (2007) 1486–1493

and Boelens (1997) have proposed three characteristics of The plastics and reference materials were used in the
bioplastics and/or paper that would render them suitable same form, that is, both had a surface area of 2 cm · 2 cm.
for use in composting and organic recovery. These charac- The compost (inoculum) and plastics/reference were mixed
teristics are: biodegradation, disintegration and no effect on thoroughly and placed inside a conical flask. Twelve coni-
compost quality. Moreover, Nakasaki et al. (2000) found cal flasks, each of 500 ml capacity, were set up (three for
that biodegradable plastic can be used as ‘‘reserve acid’’ the blank, three for the composting of compost with Plastic
i.e., it is not acid itself but degrades and releases acid inter- A, three for the composting of compost with Plastic B and
mediates during the composting process, meaning that three for the composting of compost with reference mate-
these plastics can suppress NH3 emission during the com- rial). Fig. 2 shows the set-up for one conical flask.
posting of raw materials with high nitrogen concentrations, The carbon dioxide free-air was distributed to the coni-
such as wastewater sludge. cal flasks at a flow rate of approximately 0.5 L/min to
ensure that aerobic conditions were maintained during
3. Methodology the test (Environmental Protection Department, 2001).
The carbon dioxide evolved from the composting flasks
In the first part of the study, the biodegradability of two was absorbed in 75 ml of 0.5 M NaOH solution and deter-
different types of plastics (Plastic A and Plastic B) was mined by titration with 0.5 M hydrochloric acid daily.
assessed as per ASTM 5338 and was compared to that of The pH was measured at regular intervals by preparing
a biodegradable reference material, under controlled com- a mixture of 1 part inoculum with 5 parts of deionized
posting conditions. This test was then followed by the water. The pH should fall between 7.0 and 9.0 (ISO
exposure of Plastics A and B to a natural composting envi- 14855, 1999).
ronment to assess any physical degradation of these plas-
tics under such conditions. 3.1. Calculation
The biodegradability test consisted of measuring the
amount of carbon dioxide being evolved from the compo- The amount of carbon dioxide evolved was determined
sting of a mixture of inoculum and strips of plastics for by double titration. The percentage biodegradation, Dt,
about 45 days. The ratio of the dry mass of inoculum to was calculated according to ISO 14855 (1999):
dry mass of strips of plastics was about 6:1. The biodegrad-
ðCO2 ÞT  ðCO2 ÞB
ability test was carried out in a water bath at specified tem- Dt ¼  100
peratures. The parameters during the incubation period TCO2
were as per ASTM D 5338 standards: an initial tempera- TCO2 ¼ M TOT  CTOT  ð44=12Þ
ture of 35 C, followed by a temperature of 45 C for the where TCO2 is the theoretical carbon dioxide evolved,
sanitizing period, and a temperature of 50 C maintained based on total carbon in sample, MTOT is the total dry sol-
until day 28. Finally, for the curing phase, a temperature ids, in grams, of test material, introduced into composting
of 35 C was maintained. vessels at start of the test, CTOT is the proportion of total
The inoculum (blank) used in this experiment was com- organic carbon in the dry solids in the test material in gram
post obtained from the composting of branches, vegetable per gram, (CO2)T is the cumulative amount of CO2 evolved
wastes and chicken wastes. The compost was well aerated in each composting vessel containing the test material in
and stabilized before using it in the test. The reference grams per vessel, (CO2)B is the cumulative amount of
material was a-Cellulose based with cellulose content CO2 evolved in blank (inoculum) vessels in grams per
above 95% and was used as a benchmark for comparison vessel.
purposes. Regression analyses were also conducted using Sigma-
The plastics under study were: Plot 9 software (SYSTAT Software 2004, Inc.) to deduce
correlations between cumulative CO2 production for the
 Plastic A contains 2.5–3% of PDQ-H additive. This
additive has been made with proprietary ingredients to
disintegrate plastic by oxidation and photodegradation.
The PDQ-H additive is a Masterbatch additive to be
used with either polyethylene or polypropylene (Sole
distributor, Willow Ridge Plastics, 2004).
 Plastic B manufactured from the addition of 3% by
weight of a totally degradable plastic additive (TDPA)
to polyethylene. This additive assists in the oxidation,
fragmentation and biodegradation of the plastic and
its by-products, under the action of heat, mechanical
stress or sunlight, into carbon dioxide, water and bio-
mass. It has the same specifications in terms of the stan-
dards for plastic carry bags (Philipe Polybags, 2004). Fig. 2. Apparatus set-up.
 R. Mohee, G. Unmar / Waste Management 27 (2007) 1486–1493 1489

inoculum, and net cumulative CO2 production for Plastic green wastes, which were classified as: green leaves, green
A and Plastic B. branches, grass, brown branches and brown leaves. Turn-
ing of compost pile was undertaken on a weekly basis.
3.2. Plastics exposed to natural composting environment The parameters monitored were temperature, moisture
content, pH, volatile solids and electrical conductivity as
The second part of the study was concerned with the per standard methods (Methods Book for the analysis of
exposure of Plastics A and B in a natural composting envi- compost, 1994).
ronment. The physical degradation of these plastics was
compared with that of a biodegradable and compostable 4. Results and discussion
plastic bag (Plastic C- Mater-Bi product) of vegetable ori-
gin (maize). The objective of this test was to determine any The initial and final characteristics of the inoculum
physical degradation of these plastics under such condi- (blank), test mixtures A and B, and reference mixture are
tions. The plastics were cut into strips: 47 cm long and shown in Tables 1 and 2. It can be observed that the pH
12 cm wide. The initial weights of these strips of plastics of the mixtures remained in the range of 7–8, indicating
were determined to be 5.6 g for Plastic A, 6.6 g for Plastic favourable conditions for microbial activity. The decrease
B and 7.5 g for Plastic C. Three sets of these plastics were in carbon content can be explained by the conversion of
prepared and these were placed at three different positions carbon to carbon dioxide and consumption of the degrad-
halfway inside a composter (left position, middle position able carbon by the microorganisms. A net reduction in vol-
and right position), and were covered with the raw materi- atile solids content of 12.6%, 34%, 12% and 26.4% was
als, as shown in Fig. 3. The plastics were left inside the noted for the blank, test mixtures A and B, and reference
composter until the composting process reached its com- material, respectively. This indicated that substantial
pletion. The raw materials for the composting process were decomposition has occurred for test mixture A and the ref-
erence material.
Fig. 4 shows the mean cumulative CO2 production of
the inoculum, Plastic A and Plastic B, and the reference
material. A very interesting observation is that the graphs
of these four materials under study followed a similar
trend, although it is obvious that the reference material
produced more carbon dioxide, followed by the CO2 pro-
duction of Plastic A.
There has been a general increase in CO2 production
throughout the test for the blank. The total mass of carbon
dioxide produced was 37.3 g by the end of the test. Hoff-
mann et al. (2003) pointed out that the carbon dioxide pro-
duction in blank tests (with mere inoculum) was significant,
and contributed to totally produced CO2 during proper
tests by as much as 30%.
It can be observed that during the sanitizing period, the
Fig. 3. Plastics placed inside compost reactor. amount of CO2 evolved was almost constant for Plastic A.

Table 1
Initial characteristics of blank, test mixtures A and B, and reference mixture
Material Moisture content (%) Volatile solids content (%) pH Carbon content (%)
Blank (compost) 60.6 ± 0.141 68.4 ± 0.707 7.91 38.0 ± 0.141
Test mixture A (Inoculum and Plastic A) 50.0 ± 0.141 77.0 ± 1.414 7.32 42.7 ± 0.141
Test mixture B (Inoculum and Plastic B) 50.0 ± 0.141 73.0 ± 1.414 7.26 40.8 ± 0.141
Reference mixture (Inoculum and reference material) 50.0 ± 0.283 73.4 ± 0.141 7.48 41.7 ± 0.141
Values are means ± SD (n = 3).

Table 2
Final characteristics of inoculum (blank), test mixtures A and B, and reference mixture
Material Moisture content (%) Volatile solids content (%) pH Carbon content (%)
Blank (compost) 60.0 ± 3.041 65.7 ± 0.424 7.08 36.5 ± 0.141
Test mixture A 66.7 ± 0.141 68.7 ± 0.141 7.15 39.1 ± 0.141
Test mixture B 60.6 ± 0.141 70.4 ± 0.424 7.87 38.2 ± 0.141
Reference mixture 62.1 ± 1.980 67.0 ± 0.424 8.57 37.3 ± 0.141
Values are means ± SD (n = 3).
1490 R. Mohee, G. Unmar / Waste Management 27 (2007) 1486–1493

Fig. 5. Net cumulative CO2 production.

Fig. 4. Mean cumulative CO2 evolution.

regression analysis only the inoculum, Plastic A and refer-

After the microorganisms had adapted to their new envi- ence material were considered.
ronment, a rapid rise in carbon dioxide production was Regression analysis was performed for the results
observed after day 15, at a bath temperature of 50 C. obtained for the net CO2 evolution. Regression was
The graph started to flatten after the temperature of the restricted for results obtained from day 8 and onwards
bath was again reduced to 35 C for the remainder of the since the profiles in Fig. 4 show marked departure only
test, showing a more or less constant amount of CO2 liber- after day 8. Fig. 6 shows the regression curve for cumula-
ation. The total mass of carbon dioxide was 37.3 g. Theo- tive CO2 production with time for inoculum.
retically, the total mass of CO2 evolved is expected to be Figs. 7 and 8 show the regression curves for net cumu-
53.5 g. This indicated that there was significant degrada- lative CO2 production with time for the reference material
tion of the material under study. and Plastic A, respectively. The level of CO2 varying with
Similarly, the amount of CO2 evolved from Plastic B time fitted the sigmoid type curves with very high correla-
increased only after 15 days, that is, during the 50 C bath tion coefficients (R2 values: 0.9928, 0.9921 and 0.9816 for
temperature. ASTM D6400-99 stated that inherent biodeg- reference material, inoculum and Plastic A, respectively).
radation, that is, the conversion of carbon to carbon diox- The corresponding F-values (693.6, 628.3 and 267.2 for
ide can reach a level of 60% over a period of 180 days, reference material, inoculum and Plastic A, respectively)
while the European standard (EN 13432) stated a level obtained from the ANOVA analysis together with signifi-
90% in 180 days. However, plastics made with TDPA addi- cance levels of p < 0.05 indicated that the three treatments
tives degrade and ultimately biodegrade more slowly than analysed in the biodegradability experiment were
required by ASTM D6400-99 and EN 13432. This does significant.
not mean that they will not biodegrade, they just convert The cumulative percentage biodegradation of the three
the carbon to carbon dioxide over a slightly longer time substances over the test duration is as shown in Fig. 9.
frame. Many naturally occurring materials, all biodegrad- These percentages indicate the amount of the original sam-
able, do not rapidly convert in the time frames established
by the ASTM D6400 and EN13432 (Composting News,
2004). The total mass of CO2 obtained was 33.6 g, as com-
pared to a theoretical mass of 51.0 g.
The total mass of carbon dioxide liberated from the ref-
erence material increased more rapidly than Plastics A and
B, from day 13. A total mass of 46.5 g of carbon dioxide
was obtained, as compared to an expected theoretical mass
of CO2 of 99.3 g. This can be explained by the action of
microorganisms on the degradable carbon of the reference
material.
Fig. 5 shows that the net cumulative CO2 production for
the reference material is the highest. However, the amount
of CO2 produced for Plastic B was almost the same as that
of the inoculum, indicating very low decomposition. Plastic
A was thus found to degrade more than Plastic B. The net
cumulative CO2 production for Plastic B was found to be Fig. 6. Regression curve for cumulative CO2 production with time for
almost insignificant throughout the test. As such, for the inoculum.
 R. Mohee, G. Unmar / Waste Management 27 (2007) 1486–1493 1491

ning of the experiment, the amount of CO2 produced was

very low. However, in the degradation phase, which started
at about day 6 for the reference material and about day 7
for Plastic A, the carbon dioxide evolution increased grad-
ually to a maximum value. Afterwards, all the degradable
carbon from the substrate had been consumed, and the
CO2 production was only due to respiration of cell bio-
mass. This phase is known as the plateau phase. A study
carried out by Nakasaki et al. (2000) found that the eleva-
tion of the percentage of PCL (poly-e-caprolactone, a bio-
degradable plastic) decomposition about 24 h after the
initiation of the composting to be due to the decomposition
of the organic matter contained in the wastewater sludge
(inoculum) first followed by the decomposition of the PCL.
The reference material, which is a cellulose-based mate-
Fig. 7. Regression curve for net cumulative CO2 production with time for rial, started to degrade rapidly in comparison to the other
reference material. two materials. It should also be observed that the rate slo-
wed down as the biodegradation exceeded 70%, indicating
a viable microbial community and also in accordance with
values obtained for the test according to the standard test
method (ISO 14855). The average biodegradation of the
reference material reached 70% after 45 days, with a stan-
dard deviation of 8.1%.
Plastic A showed little biodegradation during the test,
while Plastic B did not undergo any biodegradation. The
average biodegradation of Plastic A reached 19.3% after
45 days, with a deviation of 2.4%.
Similarly, a study carried out by Yagi and Irimajiri
(1997) has shown that the degradation rate of PLA (poly-
actic acid-biodegradable polymer derived from renewable
sources such as corn) is the same as for general organic
waste in a composting facility.
In the experiment concerning the exposure of plastics in
Fig. 8. Regression curve for net cumulative CO2 production with time for a natural composting environment, the physical degrada-
Plastic A. tion, the change in the exposed surface area and the thick-
ness of these plastics were assessed. The initial and final
appearances of the strips of plastics were as demonstrated
in Figs. 10 and 11. No change in surface area was observed
for Plastics A and B at the end of the composting process,
as shown in Table 3. The strip of Plastic C, which was at
the middle position of the composter, degraded completely
after the first week of monitoring.

Fig. 9. Percentage biodegradation.

ple that has been consumed by the microorganisms in the

compost and respired as carbon dioxide (this process is also
known as mineralization). In the lag phase, at the begin- Fig. 10. Initial appearance of plastic strips.
1492 R. Mohee, G. Unmar / Waste Management 27 (2007) 1486–1493

Table 3
Change in surface area
Types of Surface % Change in surface area
plastic strips area (m2)
Initially End of composting process
Left-hand Middle Right-hand
side side
Plastic A 5.64 0 (5.64 m2) 0 (5.64 m2) 0 (5.64 m2)
Plastic B 5.64 0 (5.64 m2) 0 (5.64 m2) 0 (5.64 m2)
Plastic C 5.64 98 (0.118 m2) 100 (0 m2) 100 (0 m2)

Fig. 12. Temperature profile and moisture %.

dle of the reactor after 3 days of monitoring, implying a

higher biodegradation rate, which can explain the total
disappearance of the compostable strips at the middle posi-
tion. Plastics A and B showed no physical degradation in
terms of their length and weight or physical appearance,
while Plastic C degraded completely. There has thus been
no action of microorganisms on these strips of plastics, as
compared to Plastic C.
The variation in moisture content in the compost pile
varied over time as shown in Fig. 12. At the start of
the experiment, the moisture content was around 76.6%.
The compost reactor was turned and it was observed that
the moisture content dropped to 68.8%. The overall
Fig. 11. Final appearance of plastic strips at three different positions moisture content was found to be greater than 50%
inside the compost reactor after 9 weeks of monitoring. throughout the experiment. This is because during the
decomposition process, water vapour was released due
4.1. Monitoring of composting process to the presence of green wastes only. This water vapour
condensed on the top walls of the compost reactor (which
Fig. 12 gives the average of the temperatures inside the is a closed system) before falling back into the mixture.
compost reactor at three different positions. The monitoring Davis et al. (2005) also mentioned that moisture content
of temperature was carried out daily from the beginning of is an important factor affecting microbial activity in com-
the experiment until the temperature stabilized to the posting and ultimately the rate of degradation. In this
ambient levels. Temperatures were measured vertically at study, moisture content was not a limiting factor as the
three different positions, T1, T2, T3, within the compost pile. moisture content was in the range of 60–80% throughout
The highest temperature (64.7 C) was recorded at the mid- the composting process.
 R. Mohee, G. Unmar / Waste Management 27 (2007) 1486–1493 1493

Table 4 References
Initial and final thickness of the plastic strips
Types of Thickness (mm) ASTM 5338. Standard test method for determining the aerobic biodeg-
plastic strips radation of plastic materials under controlled composting conditions.
Initially End of composting process
Composting News, 2004. Available from: <http://www.letsrecycle.com/
Left-hand side Middle Right-hand side materials/composting/news.jsp?story=2991>.
Plastic A 0.019 0.019 0.019 0.019 Davis, G., Bulson, H., Harrison, D., Billet, E., 2005. An evaluation of
Plastic B 0.020 0.020 0.020 0.020 degradable polyethylene (PE) sacks in open windrows composting.
Plastic C 0.016 – – – Compost Science and Utilization 13 (1), 50–59.
Degli-Innocenti, F., Tosin, M., Bellia, G., 2000. Degradability of plastics.
Standard methods developed in Italy. Organic Recovery and Biolog-
ical Treatment (ORBIT).
Environmental Protection Department, 2001. The Government of the
Table 4 gives the initial and final thickness of the plas- Hong Kong special administrative region. Waste: guidelines and
tic strips. It was observed that there was no change in the references. Available from: <http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/envi-
thickness of Plastics A and B when exposed to compo- ronmentinhk/waste/guide_ref/guide_hs2001.html>.
sting conditions for a period of 55 days. However, a Heerenklage, J., Colombo, F., Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rainer Stegmann, 2000.
100% change in surface area was obtained for Plastic Comparison of test systems for the determination of biodegradability
of organic materials under anaerobic conditions. Organic Recovery
C, showing that there had been action of microorganisms and Biological Treatment (ORBIT).
on this plastic as it was a natural-based product (starch- Hoffmann, J., Řeznı́čková, I., KozáKová, J., Růžička, J., Alexy, P.,
based). Bakoš, D., Precnerová, L., 2003. Assessing biodegradability of plastics
on poly(vinyl alcohol) and protein wastes. Polymer Degradation and
Stability 79, 511–519.
5. Conclusion Institute for Prospective Technological Studies. Biodegradable plastics
from renewable resources, Spain. Available from: <http://www.jrc.es/
This study was carried out in order to assess the biode- iptsreport/vol10/english/Env1E106.htm>.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO), 1999. Determina-
gradability of Plastic A and Plastic B under controlled tion of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability and disintegration of
composting conditions, and to find out whether there plastic materials under controlled composting conditions – Method by
were any physical changes in terms of their thickness analysis of evolved carbon dioxide. ISO 14855.
when exposed to a natural composting environment. Jiang, Z., Yang, H., Sun, L., Shi, S., 2002. Integrated assessment for aerobic
From the results obtained during the biodegradability biodegradability of organic substances. Chemosphere 48, 133–138.
Methods Book for the analysis of compost, 1994. In addition with the
test, it can be concluded that Plastic A degraded more results of the parallel interlaboratory test 1993. Federal Compost
than Plastic B, but less than the reference material. After Quality Assurance Organization (FCQAO). Bundesgütegemeinschaft
45 days, the average biodegradation of Plastic A attained Kompost.
19.3%, while Plastic B did not undergo any biodegrada- Ministry of Environment (MoE), 2003. Personal communication.
tion. The rate of biodegradation for the reference material Mohee, R., 1998. Composting Potential of Bagasse and Broiler Litter and
process Simulation using a dynamic model, Ph.D Thesis, University of
exceeded 70% at the end of the test, which was in accor- Mauritius.
dance with values obtained for the biodegradability test Nakasaki, K., Ohtaki, A., Takano, H., 2000. Biodegradable plastic
according to ISO 14855 (1999). The composting study reduces ammonia emission during composting. Polymer Degradation
carried out between Plastics A and B and the natural and Stability 70, 185–188.
based material, Plastic C, showed that in a composting Nakasaki, K., Ohtaki, A., Sato, N., Kubota, H., 1997. Effects of
temperature and inoculum on the degradability of biodegradable
environment, Plastic A (PDQ-H additive) and Plastic B plastic during composting. Organic Recovery and Biological Treat-
(TDPA additive) would degrade over a longer time frame ment (ORBIT), 205–208.
and Plastic C (Mater-Bi product) would degrade com- Philipe Polybags, 2004. Personal communication.
pletely after 6 days. From a study carried out by Davis Silveira, A., Ganho, R., 2000. The CO2 production rate for biodegrad-
et al. (2005), it has been found that shredded polyethylene ability evaluation under controlled composting conditions. Organic
Recovery and Biological Treatment (ORBIT).
(PE) sacks in an open windrow composting did not Sole distributor, Willow Ridge Plastics, 2004. Personal communication.
degrade at the same rate as the organic matter, thus Venelampi, O., Weber, A., Rönkko, T., Itävaara, M., 2003. The
resulting in fragments of PE being highly visible within biodegradation and disintegration of paper products in the com-
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A and B at the end of the composting process, while a 2002. The influence of lignin content and temperature on the
100% change was observed for Plastic C. Nakasaki biodegradation of lignocellulose in composting conditions. Applied
et al. (1997) also stated that the use of biodegradable plas- Microbiology Biotechnology 59, 591–598.
tics (made from renewable resources such as corn) is Wilde, B. De, Boelens, J., 1997. Prerequisites for biodegradable plastic
expected to be an important tool for reclaiming the gar- materials for acceptance in real-life composting plants and technical
aspects. Polymer Degradation and Stability 59, 7–12.
bage (i.e., putrescible matter) in the municipal solid waste Yagi, T., Irimajiri, T., 1997. Studies on degradation of polylactic acid in
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