The process required to officially certify the compostability and biodegradability of E.S.E. (Easy Serving Espresso) standard paper pods started in autumn of 2010.
The positive results of the preliminary disintegration and biodegradability tests now allow the consortium to finally approach the true and proper certification of compostability.
The process should be completed in September 2012, with the confirmation that E.S.E. pods qualify to be discarded as compostable household waste.
The reference regulation would be the same applicable to the disposal of packaging: UNI EN 13432:2002.
Since UNI EN 13432:2002 does not cover “composite products” (definition applicable to the paper pod, the “content” of which is composed of 7 grams of ground coffee and two sheets of filter paper that securely enclose it) the Consortium E.S.E. requested and obtained approval to establish a “paper coffee pod product voluntary certification”.
The voluntary certification will initially be valid in Europe. The final objective however is global validity.
Each and every step in the compostability certification process was followed by:
SSCP (Italian Pulp and Paper Research Institute)
Biodegradability is intended as being: the determination of the percentage of mineralization and biodegradability of a product in mature compost.
In order for the biodegradability test to be successful, the product biodegradation process curve must reach the 90% range within 180 days maximum (two cycles of 90 days each).
Both biodegradability and disintegration tests are required to determine the actual compostability of a product.
In the initial phase of the test performance was good, as the E.S.E. paper pod biodegradation curve stayed within the average range.
On the 140th day of the test (90 + 50) the biodegradation curve had reached 87%, hence confirming the biodegradability of the E.S.E. paper pod.
Organic Waste System (OWS)
The positive results of the above mentioned preliminary tests failed to convince all coffee roasting member of the Consortium E.S.E., who undertook to further verify and cross validate them by means of a ring-test.
To cross-reference with absolute certainty the results of tests performed on E.S.E. paper coffee pods by the Consorzio Italiano Compostatori and those obtained by Organic Waste System (OWS) in Belgium, samples were swapped and tested again by both C.I.C. and OWS.
The samples successfully passed the ring tests conducted by both certification entities.
Certiquality
As stated in the foreword, there is only one reference regulation on the disposal of packaging: UNI EN 13432:2002.
Although the filter paper that wraps the ground coffee to form the E.S.E. pod could be considered “packaging” (polypropylene content above 25%), the current standard does not by definition cover any product/composite item or “stand alone unit” such as the E.S.E. paper coffee pod (composed of ground coffee and food grade filter paper that holds and wraps it). In regards to this last, 1% the maximum polypropylene content allowed by law.
Since UNI EN 13432:2002 does not cover “composite products” (see the “Foreword”), at the end of 2011 the Consortium E.S.E. officially asked C.I.C. and Certiquality to establish a “paper coffee pod product voluntary certification” that would not require changing any of the provisions set forth by the only reference regulation.
Between the beginning of January and April 2012, C.I.C. and Certiquality evaluated the E.S.E. “compostable product” requisites and drafted the related Technical Document (DT).
In April of 2012 the Consortium received the go-ahead from both certification entities, who confirmed the possibility of building a “pilot regulation” for the disposal of “compostable product” such as the E.S.E. paper coffee pod, with special emphasis on polyethylene content.