EN 13432
EN 13432 — compostable packaging
What a compostability claim requires, why "biodegradable" is not the same thing, and the difference between industrial and home composting.
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- CEN
- Current edition
- 2000
- Status
- Current
- Legally required
- Mandatory in some cases
- Last reviewed
- 19 August 2026
EN 13432 is the standard behind every legitimate compostability claim on packaging in Europe. It is a harmonised standard, which is why it sits in the “mandatory in some cases” column: nothing forces you to make packaging compostable, but if you claim it is, this is the route by which the claim is demonstrated.
What it requires
Four tests, and all four must pass. This is the part that matters — a material that passes one is routinely marketed as if it had passed all of them.
| Requirement | |
|---|---|
| Biodegradation | At least 90% conversion to CO₂ within six months |
| Disintegration | After twelve weeks, at least 90% of the material passes a 2 mm sieve |
| Heavy metals and fluorine | Below defined limits |
| Compost quality | No negative effect on the resulting compost |
Industrial, not home
The test conditions are industrial composting: sustained elevated temperature, controlled moisture, managed turning. Around 58 °C, not a garden heap.
A sack certified to EN 13432 that ends up in a home compost bin will still be recognisable next year. Home compostability is a different claim against a different scheme, and conflating the two is the most common misuse of this standard.
Before specifying compostable packaging, establish that the waste actually goes to industrial composting. If it goes to landfill or incineration — as much “compostable” packaging does — you have paid a premium for a material that performs worse than the one it replaced.
Biodegradable is not compostable
Biodegradable on its own means almost nothing: it states that something breaks down eventually, under unspecified conditions, in unspecified time. Wood is biodegradable. So, on a long enough timescale, is most polyethylene.
Compostable to EN 13432 is a specific claim with numbers behind it, and it is the only one worth writing into a specification.
Oxo-degradable plastics — polyethylene with an additive that fragments it — are neither, and they are restricted in the EU precisely because fragmenting is not degrading.
What to ask for
A certificate, not a statement. Compostability certification is issued by recognised bodies against this standard, it names the material and the thickness, and it has a number you can check.
“Made from compostable material” on a specification sheet is not a certificate, and the difference matters when a customer asks you to substantiate it.