Title: Plastics - determination of aerobic biodegradation of non-floating plastic materials in a seawater/sediment interface - method by analysis of evolved carbon dioxide
Scope: specifies a test method to determine the degree and rate of aerobic biodegradation of plastic materials when settled on marine sandy sediment at the interface between seawater and the seafloor, by measuring the evolved carbon dioxide (CO2). This test method can also be applied to other solid materials. This test method is a simulation under laboratory conditions of the habitat found in different seawater/ sediment-areas in the sea, e.g. in a benthic zone where sunlight reaches the ocean floor (photic zone) that, in marine science, is called sublittoral zone The determination of biodegradation of plastic materials and other solid materials buried in marine
sediment is outside the scope of this document
