What is EN 13432?

EN13432 is a benchmark standard aimed at protecting the environment and the human food chain. Products meeting EN13432 are safe for composting. In order to do this EN 13432 defines the characteristics that a material must have so that it can be called ‘compostable’. In brief, a compostable material would have: Biodegradability - within six months a minimum of 90% of its compostable material would have been converted to carbon dioxide.

Disintegrability – within three months 90% of the original material mass should pass through a 2mm mesh sieve.

No negative effects on the composting process. This is complex and includes analysis of pH, salinity and volatile solids, N, P, Mg and K to determine a eco-toxicological effect.

A proven chemical analysis meeting strict controls on heavy metals and other contaminants.

Why is Composting important?

Composting maintains the balance of nature. For many years humans have deposited huge quantities of organic matter into landfill sites rather than allowing it to compost naturally and return to nature. This is now having some very serious effects on the environment and creating major problems we cannot ignore. Governments have agreed to stop landfilling any waste in the very near future. The composting and recycling of organic waste has a vital role to play in reducing the amount of waste going to landfill sites. The collecting and temporary storage of organic waste can be a messy business but it has to be done.

What happens to the Garden and Organic Waste that is Collected?

There are several ways of processing garden and organic waste into compost and this will vary to suit the council and contractor but the common aim is to create high quality compost with a saleable value. If the compost produced had no value it would just accumulate into a compost mountain. The sale of compost goes some way to covering the cost of collecting and processing the waste and the market price reflects the quality of the compost. The quality of the compost depends on each of us doing their best to ensure that the waste is not contaminated. It is virtually impossible to separate out contaminants from hundreds of tons of compost after it has been collected.

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