Certified soil-biodegradable mulch films are a specific type of mulch film used in agriculture to positively impact factors like temperature, moisture and weed growth to increase the crop yield and quality. They are made from certified soil-biodegradable materials in compliance with the biodegradability and ecotoxicity requirements as well as the technical specifications outlined [...]
Mulch films made from cerified soil-biodegradable plastics provide significant benefits where retrieval and recycling of conventional plastics pose serious problems. They are specifically designed to biodegrade effectively in situ and can therefore be incorporated into the soil postharvest. Due to their soil-biodegradability, certified soil-biodegradable mulch films help to stop leakage and the accumulation [...]
Certified soil-biodegradable mulch films do fully biodegrade in soil. This can be proven by testing and referring to the standard EN 170339 (9) (or ISO 23517) (10), which specifies the requirements and test methods for biodegradable mulch films used in agriculture and horticulture. Products complying with that standard can get certification by DIN [...]
In Europe, over 720 kt/yr of agriculture plastics is used and only 24% of this is recycled. The main end-of-life for this plastic today is still landfilling. It is estimated that about 34 kt/yr of plastic materials are burned in the fields. Finally, about 950.000 ha of agricultural soil are polluted by plastic [...]
Biodegradable mulch films that are certified for soil-biodegradability (e.g. in line with EN 17033 or ISO 23517) are fully biodegradable, i.e. they are converted into CO2, H2O, and biomass. (17, 18) This is guaranteed through the mandatory laboratory biodegradation tests required by the certification (90% mineralization absolute or relative to a positive control [...]