Circling back from the AORA Conference in Melbourne last year, where organic and food waste was collected throughout the 3 day event for a special trial. The waste included Confoil DualPakECO certified compostable trays and an array of food scraps. A composting trial was then conducted by Bio Gro to test the ‘real world’ compostability of the food packaging and the results are in.
While the biodegradation of DualPakECO has been validated by laboratory testing and certified by the Australasian Bioplastics Association (ABA) to commercial composting standard AS4736, Confoil was keen to monitor the behaviour and study the results in real conditions through an industrial process.
Matthew Goetze and Sebastian Fernandez from Bio Gro helped shape the trial process and the data capture.
Some 47.5kgs of organic and compostable material was collected at the AORA conference with DualPakECO making up approximately 15 percent of that weight. This was combined with 16 tonnes of FOGO material from Bio Gro local council collections.
In the trial, the combined material was placed in a windrow for decomposition and was turned 11 times across 49 days. The row was checked for temperature, contamination and the decomposing of the compostable packaging. All test materials met the decay rate requirements of the commercial compostability standards.
In total, 6.38 tonnes of Bio Compost was produced and approximately 5.6 tonnes of Bio Mulch from the field trial batch, which included the DualPakECO food trays.
DualPakECO is lined with certified compostable ecovio® by BASF, which is a food contact safe, biopolymer coating that provides excellent barrier properties against liquids, aromas and oils. The paperboard used is a safe food packaging material made from renewable resources. DualPakECO food trays are also ovenable, microwavable and freezable.
With some food packaging, considerable residue is left on the product rendering it unsuitable for recycling, so certified compostable packaging makes a lot of sense.
Compost improves water use efficiency by 30 percent or more; reduces the need for synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and the carbon emissions from their manufacture and use; it helps destroy weed seeds and pathogens to control the spread of diseases and manage biosecurity risks; and improves the capacity for soil to hold carbon. It’s really such a high value product.
Confoil also received an allocation of Bio Compost from the trial which was donated to Foothills Community Care (FCC) for the creation of a community garden. A real world trial with real world benefits.
More details about the trial can be found here https://www.confoil.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/biogro_trial_email.pdf
