Film Dictionary
- Acetate films
- Acrylic pretreatment
- AEO certificate
- Antistatic films
- Bio-based films
- Calibrate
- Cellophane films
- Compostability of films
- Corona pretreatment
- DI acetate films
- Digital transfer printing
- DYE inks
- Ink fountain films for Heidelberg presses
- Ink fountain films for König und Bauer presses
- Inkjet
- Liquid toner
- Mirror films
- Ökotex
- PA / Polyamide
- pick and place
- Pigment inks
- PLA / Polylactic acid, Polyactide
- Polycarbonate / PC
- Polyethylene / PE
- Polyethylenterephalat (PET)
- PP / Polypropylene
- PS / Polystyrene
- PU pretreatment
- RFID
- Screen printing
- Solid inks
- Surface tension
- Syntheticpaper
- TCA pretreatment
- Transfer films
- Visible window backsplash
- Window film
Compostability of films
Biodegradability is defined in the EU by DIN EN 13432 and states that a material must have degraded to more than 90 per cent to water, carbon dioxide (CO2) and biomass within 6 months in industrial composting under defined temperature, oxygen and moisture conditions in the presence of microorganisms. Bio-films that are disposed of in the domestic bio-bin do not undergo any decomposition process in the usual 2- to 3-week collection cycle. Thus, the disposed bio-film is passed on to the recyclable material disposal completely coherent.
With a few exceptions, the sorting facilities at the local recycling centres cannot differentiate between conventional films and bio-films. Therefore, both types of film are sorted out and sent for thermal or material recycling. Should bio-films nevertheless find their way through the sorting plants, they undergo a fermentation process (e.g. in a fermenter) lasting 6 to 8 weeks, which is customary in the industry. According to the aforementioned European legislation, however, compostable films must have decomposed within 12 weeks. Time that they do not get in practice.