Compostable bags, liners, and packaging have become increasingly popular over the past few years, with brands and companies now using them as a plastic/polythene alternative. Compostable liners have also become more widely recognised in a home environment too, as more and more local authorities are introducing separate food waste collections. Approx 50% of local authorities in the UK offer their residents a food waste collections service kerbside, alongside their dry mix recycling and general waste. For many, they supply residents with a small kitchen/food caddy, which is often lined with a compostable liner to capture and help collect the food waste. *For more information on when compostable products are the best option, please see here. – link to our blog or page on compostable vs plastics.
Alongside the heightened demand for compostable material, comes a lot of bags and packaging claiming to be compostable, yet their legitimacy is questionable! Certain standards should be displayed on your compostable products to ensure they are genuine – if you don’t see these, they could be making a false claim.
Check Your Standards!
There are certain logos which should be displayed on anything made from compostable material, Product showing these goes a long way to ensuring the product is what it is claiming to be.
The Seedling Logo is a registered trademark owned by European Bioplastics. It proves that a product is certified industrially compostable according to the European standard EN 13432, the Seedling Logo and the accompanying EN13432 number will verify that it has been certified to standard.
Alongside the Seedling Logo, genuine compostable liners or packaging will also have a 7P Number. Certified products or product families, e.g. a style of bags within a specified size/thickness range, are then issued a unique 7P certification number and are permitted to carry the European Bioplastics. Crucially, the 7P numbers are traceable to the certificate holder.
These logos are indicators of a certified compostable product! In doubt? Send us a sample, and we can authenticate! You will find all of the relevant logos on our compostable range, have a look today and request your free sample!