For OK compost® or OK biodegradable® certifications, the biodegradation requirements are evaluated.

Biodegradation involves degradation by the effect of specific enzymes causing the chemical structure to alter quite significantly (at the same time releasing water, CO2, methane and heat).

Equipments

Respirometer Echo: a 12 Channel Respirometer and a  36 Channel Respirometer to perform aerobic or anaerobic biodegradability tests. Respirometer measures O₂ (oxygen) and CO₂ (carbon dioxide) concentration inflow through the sample under controlled conditions.

Elementar Unicube: This elemental analyzer allows the simultaneous analysis
of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur in solid and/or liquid samples ranging from 0.1 mg to 1 g of material. This device is dedicated to estimating the biodegradation
of plastic. It allows knowing the proportion of carbon that p lastic contains. This proportion will then be essential to know the theoretical content of carbon dioxide (ThCO2) released by the test material.

Besides biodegradability and compostability testing, IPC also has a range of cutting mills available for the shredding, grinding, or milling of different types of materials, including rigid and flexible plastics.

This allows having 48 samples in parallel. Knowing that the samples in biodegradation must be studied in triplicate to have a good repeatability and to be considered statistically valid.