WHAT THE GUIDANCE SAYS

Compostable,
but not anywhere.

A compostable label is an instruction, not a promise.

PLA, a plant-based plastic, is one of the most commonly marketed compostable plastics. Most compostable packaging is made for hot industrial composting, and UK guidance says it must never go in with plastic recycling.

55–70 °C industrial composting

Check an item

An open wooden garden compost bin full of dark compost and vegetable peelings, with a few pale fragments of a clear plastic cup still visible — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

Read the label
Keep it out of plastic recycling
Ask your council
The right bin matters more than the material

THE SHORT ANSWER

Follow the label,
not the hope.

Compostable plastics are designed to break down,
which is exactly why they cannot be recycled.

RECYCLING

Never in with plastics

Recycle Now says never put compostable plastic in the recycling with other plastics, because it is designed to break down and cannot be recycled in the same way.

Check an item

INDUSTRIAL

Caddy or garden waste

Industrially compostable items need a food caddy or garden waste collection that goes for composting. Not every council offers this, so check locally.

What to do

HOME HEAP

Often still there

In a UCL citizen science study, 60% of items certified home compostable did not fully disintegrate in real home compost heaps.

See the numbers

A QUICK BIN CHECK

Where does
this one go?

Pick an item to see what UK guidance says to do with it. The bar shows how strictly the guidance limits where it can go.

Bin check

Choose an itemA compostable cup, in the plastics recyclingAn item marked industrially compostableA compostable food caddy linerA wrapper labelled home compostableSomething labelled only 'biodegradable'

A compostable cup, in the plastics recyclingNever

Compostable plastic is designed to break down, so it cannot be recycled with other plastics. Keep it out of the plastics collection.

An item marked industrially compostableFood or garden waste

Products certified to EN 13432 may carry the seedling logo. They go in a food caddy or garden waste collection that goes for composting, where your council offers one.

A compostable food caddy linerFood caddy

Recycle Now gives some food caddy liners as an example of industrially compostable plastics that go in the food caddy.

A wrapper labelled home compostableHome heap

Recycle Now says these can go on a home compost heap. Research suggests many will not fully break down there, so check your compost.

Something labelled only 'biodegradable'Check carefully

Biodegradable is not the same as compostable. The UK government noted strong concerns about how far such plastics really biodegrade in the open environment.

Sources: Recycle Now, Compostable plastics and Recycling symbols; Defra, Standards for bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics.

Based on Recycle Now guidance. Collections differ between councils; your local authority has the final word on what it accepts.

TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING

Hot heaps,
cold reality.

The conditions compostables are designed for,
and what happened in real gardens.

55–70°C

Optimal industrial composting temperature

With high humidity and oxygen. The government notes that materials that break down in industrial composters may not break down under home composting conditions.

CONDITIONS · DEFRA

60%

Certified home compostable items that did not fully disintegrate

1,648 people ran home compost tests. The authors concluded home composting is not an effective way to deal with compostable packaging in the UK.

HOME COMPOST · UCL

WRAP says less than 1% of UK plastic packaging is compostable today. In the UCL study, 14% of items tested were certified industrial compostable only and 46% had no compostable certification at all.

FOUR HABITS TO TRY

Sort it right,
first time.

These steps follow Recycle Now's guidance and what the research found about labels and heaps.

Read the whole label
Look for whether it says home or industrial compostable. Packaging should specify which.
Keep it out of plastics
Compostable plastic never goes in your plastic recycling, even if it looks just like ordinary plastic.
Ask about food and garden waste
If your council collects food or garden waste for composting, check whether it accepts compostable items.
Check your heap
If you home compost a labelled item, look for fragments when you use the compost. Many do not fully break down.

A clear plant-based plastic cup and wooden cutlery on a café table in daylight — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

A small kitchen food waste caddy lined with a thin green compostable liner, beside vegetable peelings on a worktop — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

WHAT THE STANDARD ASKS

Tested in
ideal conditions.

Under the EN 13432 standard, no more than 10% of the original material may remain on a 2 mm sieve after 3 months, and 90% of its carbon must turn to carbon dioxide within 6 months, under industrial composting conditions.

Real plants are less forgiving. Defra's evidence review found most industrial composters do not welcome any plastic and remove it before composting, and anaerobic digestion plants usually screen plastics out, sending them to landfill or incineration.

Questions

Questions people ask

What is PLA?

Polylactic acid. The UCL researchers list it among the most commonly marketed bio-based compostable plastics, alongside PHA, PBS and starch and cellulose blends.

Can compostable plastic go in my recycling bin?

No. Recycle Now says never to put compostable plastic in with other plastic recycling, because it is designed to break down and cannot be recycled in the same way.

Is biodegradable the same as compostable?

No. Defra describes compostable plastics as a subset of biodegradable plastics that break down under composting conditions. Biodegradability depends on temperature, humidity, microorganisms and oxygen.

Will home compostable packaging break down in my garden?

Sometimes, but often not fully. In UCL's Big Compost Experiment, 60% of items certified home compostable did not fully disintegrate in real home compost.

What does 'bioplastic' mean?

It is a loose catch-all for bio-based and biodegradable plastics. Defra's evidence suggests the term is ambiguous and offers little value to the public, so look for clearer labels.

Compostable,
but not anywhere.