BPI

The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) is North America’s leading certifier for compostable products and packaging, advancing credible standards, supporting organics recovery infrastructure, and helping policymakers and businesses align compostable solutions with real-world circular systems.
Composting
Science-based Standards
Collection
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This submission is provided for visibility and comparison only; its inclusion does not imply endorsement by CIRCLE, OPLN, or any other contributor

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BPI is a 501(c)(6) trade association that represents the entire value chain for compostable products, from manufacturers of raw materials (biopolymers and paper), to packaging convertors,

brands, municipalities, haulers, composters, and academia.

Recommendations for Policymakers Developing Circular Policy & EPR for Packaging Policies:

1. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws should go beyond recycling and include composting as a compliance pathway. Food waste is the number one material in our landfills and generates methane pollution in this environment. It can be challenging to divert this food waste at scale because it’s often tangled up in non-compostable packaging. Redesigning lightweight, multi-material, food-soiled packaging to be compostable not only solves for packaging diversion, it helps divert food waste and reduces contamination in compost manufacturing. Today, Italy has the only national

EPR program for packaging that includes compost, but so far CA, CO, MN, WA, and

MD all include it in their EPR laws.

2. Science-based standards already exist for products that can be certified and labeled as compostable, linked to the ASTM D6400, D6868 and D8410 specifications. Incorporating these standards into EPR laws provides companies with clear design criteria to take responsibility for the lifecycle of their packaging. These standards are also trusted and relied on by composters that accept compostable packaging.

3. Compostables are not collected/processed on their own, like recyclables, which means states with EPR should also consider how they will fund and prioritize curbside food scrap and compostables collection, beyond fees from compostable packaging. The EPA estimates that $14-15B of investments are needed to expand compost access across the US, just for food scraps.

For more information, please consider these external resources available in the Public Facing Statements & Resources Section:

1. BPI and US Composting Council’s “Guiding Principles” on EPR

2. Summary of Italy’s success including compostables in its EPR program.