Australasian Bioplastics Association and DIN CERTCO cooperate in certification

Melbourne, Australia, March 6th, 2015. The Australasian Bioplastics Association (ABA) is pleased to announce the establishment of a Cooperation Agreement between the Association and DIN CERTCO of Germany as the technical auditing partner for the certification of conformance to the Australian Standard AS 4736-2006 under the Australasian Bioplastics Association (ABA) verification programme. This Australian Standard covers Biodegradable Plastics suitable for industrial composting.

The Agreement will also cover assessment of products and materials destined for home composting in compliance with Australian Standard AS 5810-2010 and also in the future the certification of products or materials claiming biobased content.

On January 28th 2015 Robert Zorn, Managing Director of DIN CERTCO, and Rowan Williams, President of the Australasian Bioplastics Association Inc. (ABA) signed a Cooperation Agreement in the presence of the European Bioplastics. With this agreement DIN CERTCO ensures the future assessment of applications according to the conformity mark, “Seedling Australasia” or commonly known as the “looped seedling logo”, issued by the ABA.

Rowan Williams commented ““We are extremely excited to join with DIN CERTCO for the future assessments of products and materials claiming conformance to the Australian Standard. It is increasingly important to have an internationally recognised partner such as DIN CERTCO to collaborate with for the Australian and New Zealand markets, for certified compostable products and materials. As more communities introduce source separation systems for diverting food waste from landfill, having certified compostable products available that are 100% biodegradable in industrial composting will give consumers and organic waste processors such as composters, the assurance that the products will completely biodegrade in efficiently run systems.

The visual logo on these products and materials will be easily recognised and food waste or organic waste contained in these certified products can be easily separated out and diverted from landfill.

More and more countries are phasing out or banning non-biodegradable plastics, so having certification schemes that confirm a material’s compostability is paramount”.

Robert Zorn adds: “With our already available accreditation according to the standard AS 4736 in the context of the “DIN-Geprüft Industrial compostable” certification scheme, DIN CERTCO holds the respective competence. With this cooperation agreement both parties provide support for the respective certification schemes offered by DIN CERTCO and ABA, e.g. for industrial compostability, home compostability or biobased products”.

“As owner of the collective mark “Seedling” and industry inter-trade organization we are in favour of opening and extending additional markets for the bioplastic industry based on applicable standards”, Hasso von Pogrell, Managing Director of European Bioplastics explains. “DIN CERTCO certifies products made of compostable materials for nearly 20 years according to DIN EN 13432 and ASTM D 6400, ensuring us to cover the market needs reliably”.

Rowan Williams concluded, “Having such a partner as DIN CERTCO to work with in Australasia brings even more credibility to the Association’s verification scheme for compostable and biodegradable materials. Stakeholders in this market can fully support our source separation of food waste programs using certified compostable materials such as food waste bags, garbage bags, compostable packaging and food service items to safely and hygienically divert this organic waste from landfills.

This Agreement is a very important and significant step forward for our organisations and can only credibly support compostable materials in our marketplace.”

About the ABA

The Australasian Bioplastics Association is the peak industry body for manufacturers, converters and distributors of bioplastic products and materials throughout Australia and New Zealand. The ABA is incorporated in Victoria under the Associations Reform Act 2012, No. A0060440G and is run as a not for profit.

About DIN CERTCO

DIN CERTCO is the certification organisation of TÜV Rheinland Group and DIN, the German Institute for Standardization. It is highly regarded at home and abroad for its independence, neutrality, competence and more than 40 years of experience in the field.

Standards are indispensable instruments in ensuring safety technology, in protecting health, the environment, and customer interests, generally. They play a vital part in the national economy and lay the foundations of free exchange of goods and services.

DIN, as other standards bodies, maintains a comprehensive collection of technical rules that sustains the efficient manufacture, testing, and assessment of products. DIN CERTCO promotes the application of standards by its activities in the field of conformity assessment.

About European Bioplastics

Founded in Germany in 1993 as IBAW, European Bioplastics today represents the interests of around 70 member companies throughout the European Union. With members from the agricultural feedstock, chemical and plastics industries, as well as industrial users and recycling companies, European Bioplastics serves as both a contact platform and catalyst for advancing the objectives of the growing bioplastics industry.