There are several standards that can be used to certify that a material is compostable. The European standard EN 13432 can be used to certify industrial compostability of packaging materials. To achieve certification, a material has to undergo testing atmaximum 58 C for 180 days and has to biodegrade by 90% in absolute terms or relative to cellulose within that time frame. The definition of the 180 day maximum was intended to cover both biodegradation during the composting process as well as the biodegradation
afterwards, during application of compost to soil. Other require-ments that the material has to fulfil are disintegration (i.e. no visible remains of the material after 12 weeks), lack of toxicity and lack of negative effects on the composting process.