DIN EN ISO 17556:2012-12

DIN EN ISO 17556 specifies a method for determining the ultimate aerobic biodegradability of plastic materials in soil by measuring the oxygen demand in a closed respirometer or the amount of carbon dioxide evolved. The method is designed to yield an optimum degree of biodegradation by adjusting the humidity of the test soil. This standard differs from DIN EN ISO 17556:2005-03 as follows: a) the Introduction has been revised; b) a definition of the term "total organic carbon" (see 3.14) has been added; c) the temperature of the test environment has been changed (see clause 5); d) the specifications for the analytical instrument for determining the amount of carbon dioxide evolved have been revised (see 7.2.3); e) the preparation of the test material has been revised (see 8.1); f) the collection and sieving of soil has been revised (see 8.3.1); g) the use of a standard soil is now permitted as an alternative to natural soil (see 8.3.2); h) the execution of the test has been revised (see 8.4); i) the test report has been extended (see clause 11); j) a new Annex F giving results of long-term tests has been added; k) a new Annex G giving the results of round-robin testing has been added. This International Standard has been prepared by ISO/TC 61/SC 5 "Plastics - Physical-chemical properties" (secretariat: DIN, Germany) and has been identically adopted as a European Standard. CEN/TC 249 "Plastics", the secretariat of which is held by NBN (Belgium), is responsible for the European document. The responsible German standardization committee is Working Committee NA 054-01-07 AA "Bioabbaubare Kunststoffe" ("Biodegradable plastics") at the Plastics Standards Committee (FNK) at DIN.