Press Release: Compostable Field Testing Program Results-Sharing Website Now Live

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Do Compostable Products Really Break Down? Compostable Field Testing Program Launches Interactive Website

Real-world disintegration data for compostable foodware is now available at your fingertips via a new platform by the Compostable Field Testing Program

USA & CANADA, October 24, 2024: The Compostable Field Testing Program (CFTP) announced the launch of its much-anticipated website that gives public access to detailed field testing results through a dynamic and interactive dashboard. This new platform provides a valuable resource for manufacturers, composting operators, policymakers, researchers, and consumers by allowing them to explore in-field compostable product performance data in unprecedented detail.

Supporting Decision-Making

With increasing consumer awareness about the environmental impact of packaging, there is a growing need for credible, transparent information about the performance of compostable products. As the world’s first open-source field testing database correlated with composter operating conditions, the CFTP’s user-friendly tool provides insights into the factors that affect compostable product breakdown in the field. This practical data can support better product design, composting practices, and standards.

“At some point, every composter accepting food scraps confronts the question of whether or not to take compostable products, and field testing is one way to inform the decision by bridging between critical lab-based certification and real-world product breakdown,” says Diane Hazard, Executive Director of the Compost Research & Education Foundation, a founding partner of the program. “This data release presents a beginning for a new phase of collaboration and research around this work.”

Empowering Stakeholders Across the Industry

“We are seeing an increase of organics bans across the nation, and compost manufacturers are handling increasing amounts of food scrap waste,” says Frank Franciosi, Executive Director of the US Composting Council. “This open source database has the potential to give stakeholders the information they need to both increase the diversion of food scrap organics from the landfill to composting operations, and help support compostable product innovation.”

The platform offers value to a wide range of audiences:

• Composting Facility Operators: Gain insights into disintegration for various compostable products and opportunities to optimize composting conditions for better breakdown.
• Compostable Product Manufacturers and Brands: Use the data to refine product design and material selection for better compostability.
• Policymakers: Access evidence to support standards that encourage better packaging solutions.
• Consumers and Environmental Advocates: Understand which products are most effective in various composting settings, supporting informed purchasing and diversion decisions.

Features of the Interactive Dashboard

In addition to the website sharing key takeaways from the field testing results, the interactive dashboard is a key feature, designed to help users dive into the specifics of compostable product performance. Users can filter the data displayed in real-time by:

• Item Type: Focus on results for compostable foodware, bags, or other product categories.
• Material Type: Compare the performance of different materials such as PLA, PHA, paper or alternative fibers (sugarcane/bagasse).
• Environmental Conditions: Filter results based on average temperature, moisture, and trial duration to see how these factors can influence disintegration.

Commitment to Ongoing Research

The program's commitment to field testing with scientific rigor and transparency aims to accelerate progress toward a circular economy where packaging waste is minimized, and resources are returned to the earth.

This website will continue to be a resource for aggregating and open sourcing field testing data. As more data becomes available from future field trials, the website will continue to be updated.

This website is the first in a series of releases the CFTP is coming out with this fall. Stay tuned for their field test methods to be published, followed by a detailed report and culminating in a presentation at the USCC’s annual composting conference COMPOST2025 in January 2025.

Explore the Website

For more information, key takeaways, and to see how compostable products performed under different test methods and composting conditions, head to the website at compostabletesting.org.

The CFTP Results Dashboard was developed by the Compostable Field Testing Program and the University of Chicago Data Science Institute. This partnership was made possible in part by The 11th Hour Project, a program of The Schmidt Family Foundation.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Emily McGill, Program Director, Compostable Field Testing Program
[email protected]

About the Compostable Field Testing Program

The Compostable Field Testing Program, or CFTP, is an international non-profit research platform which provides the method and materials to conduct field testing to composters across North America and beyond. Operating since 2016 as a collaborative venture between CREF and its partner BSIbio, the CFTP provides a standard test kit and a customizable protocol for the common ‘mesh bag method’. When participating facilities share back their results, this data is collected by the CFTP, aggregated and anonymized for eventual public release in an online database. This provides baseline data correlating composting conditions with the disintegration of common compostable products and packaging, enabling CREF, the public, the composting industry, compostable products industry and academics to develop tools for composters wanting to understand best practices for processing these feedstocks, and for product manufacturers to design products suited for real-world operating conditions.

About the Compost Research & Education Foundation

The Compost Research & Education Foundation (CREF) was established in 1992 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. CREF supports scientific research, promotes public awareness, and educates the compost community to advance environmentally and economically sustainable organics recycling. The CREF has produced key publications that inform best practices for effective organics management, including the Test Methods for Evaluating Compost and Composting (TMECC) and The Composting Handbook. The CREF also conducts the Compost Operations Training Course (COTC), the industry gold standard for education on compost facility management.

About BSIbio Packaging Solutions

BSIbio Packaging Solutions Inc. is a compostable products distributor headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, dedicated to creating products that add value to the environment.  The company’s research program in field testing began in 2013, and BSIbio co-founded the CFTP in 2016. Passionate about the science of truly compostable packaging, the company has helped retailers and residents successfully close the loop in the circular economy since 2005.
www.bsibio.com

About the US Composting Council

Established in 1992, the US Composting Council (USCC) is dedicated to the development, expansion and promotion of the U.S. compost manufacturing industry. The USCC achieves this mission by encouraging, supporting and performing compost-related research, promoting best management practices, establishing standards, educating professionals and the public about the benefits of compost and compost utilization, enhancing compost product quality, and developing training materials for compost manufacturers and markets for compost products. USCC members include compost manufacturers, marketers, equipment manufacturers, product suppliers, academic institutions, public agencies, nonprofit groups and consulting/engineering firms.

The USCC is a non-profit 501(c) (6).

About the University of Chicago Data Science Institute

The Data Science Institute (DSI) executes the University of Chicago’s bold, innovative vision of Data Science as a new discipline. The DSI seeds research on the interdisciplinary frontiers of this emerging field, forms partnerships with industry, government, and social impact organizations, and supports holistic data science education.