THE SOIL BURIAL TEST AS A METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE BIODEGRADABILITY OF PLASTICS

Biodegradability is very important as a parameter of the environmental behaviour of a substance. Among the methods used to determine the biodegradability of an insoluble substance, the Soil Burial Test (SBT) has been proposed as also suitable for use with plastic polymers. this paper reports on year long SBT's which were carried out in garden soil on four plastic polymer samples: three with starch and/or fatty acids added as biodegradation promoters and one unadulterated reference sample. The samples were buried in garden soil. The addition of promoters did not result in degradation in all cases.