Question 1

Are Biobags certified?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  
At Biobag, we always seek out safe, sustainable, and renewable materials to ensure the highest quality for our products, and least negative impact on the environment. All our bags, sacks, and films are certified compostable and biodegradable according to the European Standard EN 13432, the US Standard ASTM D6400 and the Australian Standard AS473.
Biobag holds compostable and biodegradable certificates issued by several certification institutions like TÜV AUSTRIA (OK Compost), BPI (USA). This is how we ensure our products are truly made to disappear, safely, and under the right conditions.

Question 2

What are Biobags made of?

Accepted Answer

Mater-Bi®.
Mater-Bi® is a raw material created by combining starch and vegetable oil derivatives with compostable and biodegradable polymer. Corn and sugar beets are among the most commonly used plants for producing the raw materials used in bioplastic. Mater-Bi® is fully certified by third parties in accordance with the main European and international standards. Read more about Mater-Bi® here

Question 3

How do certified compostable bags differ from conventional plastic bags in terms of biodegradability?

Accepted Answer

It’s a little technical and has to do with the material the bags have been made of. 
Conventional plastic bags are commonly made from materials like polyethylene that are non-biodegradable, taking hundreds of years to break down and causing significant harm to the environment if they end up there. Conventional plastic will only break down to microplastic fractions, which can enter our food and water systems if it ends up in nature. 
Certified compostable bags, made of Mater-Bi®, break down in the presence of microorganisms, humidity, and the right temperature into water, carbon dioxide, and humus/biomass. Depending on the certification, this usually happens within 3–6 months. They leave no persistent or harmful residues behind. That’s the key difference: our bags are made to disappear and conventional plastic isn’t.
Technically, compostable bags made of Mater-Bi® have a different chemical structure that is recognised as food, by naturally occurring microorganisms that can be broken down by their enzymes.

Question 4

Is there a risk that the bags could cause microplastics pollution?

Accepted Answer

No.
Even if small fragments remain in the bio pulp or compost after a full treatment cycle, rest assured they are not harmful. This is backed by our product certifications. The material's intrinsic biodegradability ensures that any remaining pieces will break down over time and will not persist in the soil or turn into microplastics. Our bags are made to disappear, not to persist.

Question 5

Why are certifications important?

Accepted Answer

Certifications assure that the product is compostable and does not leave harmful residues behind.
Certifications are crucial as they ensure that a product meets specified standards for compostability and leaves no harmful residues behind. The decomposition process of compostable products, such as bags turning into biomaterial, can vary widely. This process may occur in settings like industrial composting facilities, backyard compost heaps, or biogas facilities, each with distinct conditions including varying temperatures, microorganisms, and decomposition timelines.
For consumers, certifications provide transparent and accurate information. A certification allows products to carry a quality label, indicating that the product will break down in a composting environment without leaving harmful residues behind.

Question 6

Do Biobags consist of traditional/conventional plastic?

Accepted Answer

No. 
Biobags are made of Mater-Bi® which is a raw material created by combining starch and vegetable oil derivatives with compostable and biodegradable polymer. Our bags do not conventional plastic.
The confusion often comes from the word plastic itself. Technically, “plastic” just means a material that can be moulded into shape and contains polymers, so compostable materials, like what Biobags are made of, are also considered a type of plastic in a strict technical sense.
However, when most people say “plastic,” they’re usually thinking of conventional plastics that break down into smaller and smaller pieces but never really disappear. Biobags are compostable plastic, designed to biodegrade under the right conditions and leave no microplastic behind. To make sure of this, Biobags are independently certified, meaning they’ve been tested to prove they break down safely and don’t leave harmful residues in compost or soil.

Question 7

Can Biobags contaminate the compost that is spread on the fields in agriculture?

Accepted Answer

No.
Even if small fragments remain in the bio pulp or compost after a full treatment cycle, rest assured they are not harmful. This is backed by the certifications. The material's intrinsic biodegradability ensures that any remaining pieces will break down over time and will not persist in the soil or turn into microplastics. Our bags are made to disappear, not to persist.

Question 8

Under which conditions are the bags compostable and biodegradable?

Accepted Answer

Humidity, temperature, and the presence of microorganisms are indispensable conditions for promoting biodegradation processes. Temperature and the concentration of microorganism are merely accelerating factors.

Question 9

What is the shelf life of your bags?

Accepted Answer

All our compostable bags are designed not to last forever, that’s part of what makes them work. How long they last in storage depends on conditions, which is why we recommend keeping them in a cool, dry and dark place. Over time, compostable materials naturally become weaker, so there is no exact “best before” date. On average, Biobags have a shelf life of 12–18 months.
To help you monitor this, every Biobag has a production date printed on the bag. It’s shown as week/year (for example, 23/24 means it was produced in week 23 of 2024). This makes it easy to keep track of age and ensure the bags are used within their recommended timeframe.

Question 10

Is there a difference between compostable and biodegradable biobags?

Accepted Answer

Yes, there’s a significant difference. 
If a material is certified compostable, it is also considered biodegradable as this is one of the criteria for compostability. A biodegradable material breaks down due to microorganisms, but the key difference is that biodegradable materials may leave behind non-composted and polluting residues after a composting cycle. There’s also no guarantee that no toxic residues will be left behind. 
Certified compostable fully compost and leave no persistent residues. That’s why a biodegradable material cannot automatically be considered compostable until its compostability is certified according to current standards (EN 13432). Unfortunately, the term "biodegradable" is often misused in marketing for products and materials that are not truly environmentally friendly. That’s why at Biobag we typically use the term compostable to describe our products. All of our bags are third-party certified as compostable, so there is no doubt that we deliver on our promises.

Question 11

How long and what temperature do the bags have to be exposed to break down?

Accepted Answer

Under industrial composting conditions, Biobags are certified to break down within 180 days at controlled temperatures of around 55–60°C. These conditions are maintained in municipal composting facilities, where heat, airflow, moisture, and microbial activity work together to speed up the biodegradation process.
In practice, many Biobag products, especially those certified OK compost HOME, tend to break down faster in industrial systems, as they are designed to decompose efficiently under elevated temperatures and consistent processing.
For home composting, timing varies. Temperature, humidity, and how the compost is managed all influence the breakdown rate, so giving an exact timeframe isn’t possible. However, in a well-functioning home compost, Biobags generally decompose at a similar pace to organic materials like food scraps and garden waste.

Question 12

Is it ethically responsible to use starch from food crops to produce bioplastics?

Accepted Answer

Compared to the global production of food crops, only a very small portion is used to produce bioplastics.
In 2017, it was estimated that out of 5 billion hectares of agricultural land used globally, only 0.02% (about 1.2 million hectares) were used for bioplastics production. In Europe, around 3,600,000 tonnes of corn starch are used each year for industrial (non-food) products. Only 1% of this is used for bioplastics. 
See more data on bioplastics and food crops here

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