UPM receives home compostable certification for packaging papers

14 Dec 2023 --- UPM Specialty Papers’ packaging papers have been certified as home compostable, according to the French standard NFT51-800:2015. The papers are also certified as industrially compostable.

The company says its fiber-based and recyclable packaging materials empower brand owners and converters to develop home compostable packaging solutions. 

“Recycling should always be the first option to consider when possible. However, compostability is a good option when recycling packaging papers is not possible due to food residues, for example. Compostability can also play a role when recycling infrastructure is limited,” Susanna Hyrkäs, senior manager for Sustainability at UPM Specialty Papers, tells Packaging Insights. 

Compostability is one form of recycling that is degrading compostable materials into fertile soil suitable for plant growth. The differences between home and industrial composting are found in the process temperature and the time it takes before disintegration and biodegradation can be expected.

Home compostability 
Given the right conditions (20–30 degrees Celsius), home compostable materials are designed to biodegrade within 12 months and disintegrate within six months into non-ecotoxic compost, explains UPM.

Susanna Hyrkäs, senior manager for Sustainability at UPM Specialty Papers.Hyrkäs highlights that there are four main criteria for meeting compostability requirements: 

• Chemical characteristics: There is a threshold limit for certain harmful metals and a minimum requirement for the organic material content.
• Biodegradability: Materials have to biodegrade in a certain period. In the biodegradation process, microbes convert organic carbon into carbon dioxide.
• Disintegrability: Material has to disintegrate, for example, fragmentate into small pieces in a certain period.
• Ecotoxicity: The resulting compost has to be suitable for plant growth.

The specialty papers company has set responsibility targets for 2030, such as promoting a circular economy and sustainable product design. Recyclability and compostability are part of the solution by ensuring a sustainable product end of life.

By Natalie Schwertheim