ISO 15270-5:2025

Overview

ISO 15270-5:2025 - Plastics: Guidelines for the recovery and recycling of plastics waste - Part 5: Organic/biological recycling provides a structured framework for recovering and recycling industrially compostable plastics through organic recycling routes (e.g., industrial composting and anaerobic digestion). The standard defines terms, describes waste flows and treatment stages, and sets out the methodologies and calculations needed to evaluate inputs, outputs and recycling rates for compostable plastic waste collected from pre‑ and post‑consumer sources. It explicitly excludes home composting and does not itself define test methods for compostability.

Key Topics and Requirements

• Terms and definitions: Harmonised vocabulary for plastic waste, compost, industrial composting, compostable plastic waste and related concepts (references ISO 472).
• Waste flows and separate collection: Guidance on collection systems for bio‑waste and quality criteria needed for organic recycling feedstocks.
• Treatment technologies: Identification of organic recycling technologies (industrial composting, anaerobic digestion, and combinations) and their role in recovery pathways.
• Inputs, outputs and classifications: Methodologies and calculations to quantify organic recycling inputs/outputs, determine recyclate (e.g., compost or digestate) quality and classify outputs for downstream use.
• Quality requirements: General quality controls and recommendations to be applied across recovery stages to minimise contamination and ensure beneficial use of outputs.
• Guidance for standards and specifications: Recommendations for inclusion in material, test and product standards to support consistent implementation.
• Scope limitations: Does not establish compostability test criteria (see ISO 17088, ISO 18606); excludes home composting as a recycling pathway.

Applications and Users

ISO 15270-5:2025 is designed for practical use by:

• Waste management operators and composting facility managers wanting to integrate compostable plastics into bio‑waste streams.
• Packaging and product designers specifying end‑of‑life routes and product labelling for compostable plastics.
• Environmental and regulatory authorities setting policy or calculating organic recycling rates.
• Certification bodies, standard writers and testing organisations aligning product specifications with organic recycling best practice.
• Environmental consultants assessing the impacts of biodegradable plastic use and collection schemes.

Practical uses include designing separate collection systems, assessing contaminant impacts on compost/digestate quality, calculating recycling rates for industrially compostable packaging, and defining acceptance criteria for compost outputs.

Related Standards

• ISO 17088 - Specifications for compostable plastics
• ISO 18606 - Packaging and the environment - Organic recycling
• ISO 472 - Plastics - Vocabulary

Keywords: ISO 15270-5:2025, compostable plastics, organic recycling, industrial composting, anaerobic digestion, recycling rate, bio‑waste management, compost quality.