BPI Certified Compostable
PACKAGING
CONFIDENCE HIGH · ANALYSIS ONLY, NOT AN AUDIT OR CERTIFICATION
Our read
BPI is a real test, not a self-declaration. Products go to approved laboratories for six months of biodegradation testing at 58 degrees C, disintegration testing, ecotoxicity and plant growth screening and regulated metals, with technical review by DIN CERTCO and surveillance that includes anonymously purchasing certified product off the shelf and retesting it. BPI's PFAS restriction, capping total organic fluorine at 100 ppm from January 2020, removed an entire class of fluorinated fibre packaging from the certified list and is one of the more consequential things any product certifier has done. The blunt limitation is in the standard's own title: ASTM D6400 specifies labelling of plastics designed to be composted in municipal or industrial facilities. Fifty-eight degrees is a thermophilic industrial windrow, not a garden bin. The default mark makes no home compost claim, and a separate home scheme exists precisely because the two are different. Beyond that, certification says nothing about whether the consumer has access to an industrial composter, or whether that composter will accept the item. Many will not.
What it covers
- Conformance to ASTM D6400 for plastics, ASTM D6868 for plastic coatings on paper and other substrates, and ASTM D8410 for cellulosic-fibre packaging
- Biodegradation testing to 90% absolute, or 90% relative to a reference, over six months at 58 degrees C
- Disintegration testing at 58 degrees C for up to 84 days
- Ecotoxicity and plant growth testing on the resulting compost
- Regulated heavy metals thresholds
- Total organic fluorine below 100 ppm, with supplier safety data sheets and a signed manufacturer statement of no intentionally added fluorinated substances, in force since 1 January 2020
- Testing by BPI-approved laboratories with technical review by DIN CERTCO
- Ongoing surveillance including anonymous purchase of certified products for retesting, and random or unannounced controls
- A separate Home Compostability Certification Scheme exists as an optional additional certification tested at 25 degrees C
What it leaves out
Not a criticism of the scheme. A standard is a scope, and this is where this one ends.
- Certifies compostability in MUNICIPAL OR INDUSTRIAL facilities only; the standard's own title says so
- The default BPI Certified Compostable mark makes no home or backyard compost claim; home certification is a separate, more expensive scheme
- Says nothing about whether an industrial composter near the consumer exists or will accept the item
- No greenhouse gas, carbon footprint or embodied emissions requirement
- No labour, human rights or sourcing criteria
- No requirement that the feedstock be renewable, biobased or responsibly grown
- Does not address litter, marine degradation or degradation in landfill
- Tests the item under controlled laboratory conditions, not under the operating conditions of any particular facility
- BPI is a membership trade association whose members include the manufacturers whose products it certifies
The scheme
| Issued by | Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), a North American membership trade association; technical review is contracted to DIN CERTCO |
|---|---|
| Where it applies | United States and Canada |
| Audit and renewal | Certificate granted for a maximum of three years; recertification testing required every three years, plus ongoing surveillance including anonymously purchased samples retested by a BPI-approved laboratory |
| Cost | Published, USD. Application: $1,500 Commercial Only, $3,000 Commercial and Home. Recertification $1,000 per certificate every three years. Annual licensing $3,500 base covering up to five certificates or sublicenses, $1,000 per additional five. Sublicense $500 per year. Laboratory testing costs are separate and the process can take twelve months or more. |
What we read
BPI Commercial Compostability Certification Scheme, Version 2.6.1, March 2026 (certifying to ASTM D6400, ASTM D6868 and ASTM D8410); BPI Home Compostability Certification Scheme, Version 1.2
- industrial and municipal facilities only — ASTM D6400 Standard Specification for Labeling of Plastics Designed to be Aerobically Composted in Municipal or Industrial Facilities
- test conditions and durations — Disintegration testing is conducted at 58 +/-2 C for up to 84 days ... Biodegradation testing is conducted at 58 +/-2 C for 6 months
- home certification is separate — Commercial Only Certification certifies that items will break down in commercial compost facilities, while Commercial & Home Certification certifies that items will break down in both commercial compost facilities and in properly managed ho
- PFAS restriction — Organic fluorinated chemicals, such as per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS), cannot be present in formulations for BPI-Certified items.
- surveillance and enforcement — recertification being required every three years and controls that may be random and unannounced ... authorized agents of the Licensor shall anonymously purchase samples of the Certified Product
- certificate validity — Certification is granted for a maximum of three years, at which time the certified item(s) must undergo recertification.
- US composting infrastructure is largely yard-trimmings only — almost 5,000 composting facilities in the US today, the majority of which accept only yard trimmings
- acceptance is a facility-level decision — Compostable Products Primer and Decision Making Guide on Accepting or Rejecting Compostable Products
- cost_range — Commercial Only certifications $1,500 USD ... Commercial & Home certifications $3,000 USD ... Recertification required every 3 years at $1,000 USD per certificate
What we could not establish
Correction to the brief on one point: BPI now operates a separate Home Compostability Certification Scheme (v1.2), so it is the default Commercial Only mark, not BPI as a whole, that makes no home-compost claim. On US industrial composting access, the strongest citable sources located were BPI's own statement that of almost 5,000 US composting facilities the majority accept yard trimmings only, and BPI's co-published USCC decision guide on accepting or rejecting compostable products, which establishes that acceptance is a discretionary facility-level decision. Could not source a current, quantified figure for the share of US households with access to food-waste composting or the share of food-waste facilities that reject certified compostables; the BioCycle State of Organics Recycling survey that BPI cites dates from October 2017 and counted 4,713 composting facilities. That specific quantification is therefore left unstated rather than estimated. Also note BPI's governance: it is a membership trade association of compostable-product manufacturers, mitigated by outsourcing technical review to DIN CERTCO and testing to approved third-party laboratories.
Who holds it
Scored companies carrying this mark, highest first. Holding it is not the same as scoring well — the mark is one input of six.
| Company | Scope held | YKO score |
|---|---|---|
| Theo | Not stated | 43.3 |
| San Francisco Bay Coffee | Not stated | 32 |
| Repurpose. | Not stated | 15.5 |
| Philz Coffee | Not stated | 12.1 |
If you hold this certification, it is already on your record. What a buyer cannot see there yet is the evidence behind the parts this standard does not reach.