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This document establishes the terms, definitions, methodologies, and calculations that are necessary for the recovery of waste from plastic products and materials labelled as industrially compostable (hereafter referred to as compostable plastic waste) through organic recycling. The document identifies the different types of organic recycling technologies used in the recovery and subsequent recycling of industrially compostable plastics waste arising from pre-consumer and post-consumer sources. This document also establishes the requirements and calculations to be considered in evaluating organic recycling inputs and outputs and determining output classifications for the recycling operation and the downstream integration points.

The document also outlines general quality requirements to be applied in all steps of the recovery process, and provides general recommendations for inclusion in material standards, test standards and product specifications. The process stages, requirements, recommendations, and terminology presented in this document are intended to be of general applicability.

This document does not establish test methods and criteria for the definition of the organic recyclability (e.g. compostability) of plastic materials and products.

This document refers to plastic waste deriving from products that have been classified as suitable for recovery through organic recycling by the relevant reference standards (e.g., ISO 17088, ISO 18606) and therefore labelled as industrially compostable. These products are generally called “industrially compostable” (e.g. compostable bag, compostable tableware) meaning “suitable for organic recycling”, independently of the final treatment technology (whether it is true aerobic composting, or a combination of anaerobic digestion and composting, or only anaerobic digestion).

This document does not address home composting because this gardening practice cannot be classified as recycling.