Ecofy in Sustainable Packaging News: The End-of-Life Gap
Ecofy's expert feature in Sustainable Packaging News explains why a compostable certificate is not real-world composting, and what foodservice buyers should verify before sourcing.
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Sustainable Packaging News, a leading trade publication for the packaging industry, has published an expert feature contributed by Ecofy. The article, titled “The End-of-Life Gap,” looks at one of the most misunderstood issues in compostable foodservice packaging: the difference between what a compostable certificate proves on paper and what actually happens to a product after a customer throws it away.
You can read the full article here: The End-of-Life Gap on Sustainable Packaging News.
Why this matters for buyers
For distributors, importers and foodservice procurement teams, the piece is a practical reminder that a certificate alone does not deliver an environmental result. The main points:
- Compostable describes ideal conditions, not guaranteed outcomes. A product certified for industrial composting only composts if a facility that accepts it exists in the destination market. Where it does not, the item is landfilled and the benefit is lost.
- Infrastructure is the deciding factor. Industrial composting needs high heat, controlled moisture and an accepting facility. Certification cannot substitute for local infrastructure.
- Timelines are often misrepresented. Standards allow roughly 12 weeks to disintegrate and 90 percent biodegradation within 6 months. Marketing claims of “a few weeks” misstate the real timeframe.
- Certificates show potential, not daily control. Standards such as EN 13432 and ASTM D6868 prove laboratory performance for a sample. They do not by themselves guarantee raw-material sourcing, coating consistency or batch-to-batch uniformity.
The due-diligence questions to ask
The article closes with the questions a serious buyer should put to any supplier before placing an order: which standard applies and whether it covers the full product or only the fibre, whether composting facilities exist in the destination market, the PFAS status confirmed separately, batch-consistency documentation, and fibre traceability back to source.
This is the same honest-sourcing approach Ecofy takes with its own customers. Our compostable and food-contact documentation, and how we handle each of these questions, is set out on our certifications page. For the underlying standards referenced in the article, see our guides to EN 13432 and ASTM D6868.
If you are evaluating a compostable tableware supplier and want the documentation behind the claims, request a quote or specification pack and our export team will share what applies to your market.
