ASTM Industrial Standard Definitions of Biodegradable Plastic
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission and the EPA are the authoritative body for biodegradable standards. The EPA brought to congress the 6-pack legislation for photo-degradable plastics to be used. The Diamond shape on all 6-pack holders are used today for a symbol of photo-degradation of plastics.
ASTM International defines methods to test for biodegradable plastic, both anaerobically and aerobically as well as in marine environments. The specific subcommittee responsibility for overseeing these standards falls on the Committee D20.96 on Environmentally Degradable Plastics and Biobased Products. The current ASTM standards are defined as standard specifications and standard test methods. Standard specifications create a pass or fail scenario whereas standard test methods identify the specific testing parameters for facilitating specific time frames and toxicity of biodegradable tests on plastics.
The most accurate test method for testing in anaerobic environments is the ASTM D5526 - 12 Standard Test Method for Determining Anaerobic Biodegradation of Plastic Materials Under Accelerated Landfill Conditions, Both of these tests are used for the ISO DIS 15985 on determining anaerobic biodegradation of plastic materials.
Read more about this topic: Biodegradable Plastic
Famous quotes containing the words industrial, standard, definitions and/or plastic:
“Nearly all the Escapists in the long past have managed their own budget and their social relations so unsuccessfully that I wouldn’t want them for my landlords, or my bankers, or my neighbors. They were valuable, like powerful stimulants, only when they were left out of the social and industrial routine.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
“A dwarf who brings a standard along with him to measure his own size—take my word, is a dwarf in more articles than one.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“What I do not like about our definitions of genius is that there is in them nothing of the day of judgment, nothing of resounding through eternity and nothing of the footsteps of the Almighty.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“And I threw a little earth
on the pink coffin
covered by the fake plastic grass
and said O.K., God,
if it’s the end of the world,
it must be necessary.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)