Hygienically optimised collection of biowastes with ecovio biowaste bags
bifa also tested whether the type of collection affects the bioburden on throwing the waste in the biobin. The investigation results allow the conclusion to be drawn that the use of ecovio biowaste bags improves the collection of household biowaste considerably from a hygiene point of view.
The study, conducted on behalf of BASF SE, examined two hygiene issues in the collection of biowaste in households: Hygiene in the collection in the kitchen and on throwing the collected waste into the biobin.
First we examined how much bacteria and fungi multiply in fresh biowaste. The samples were stored for five days at 25 °C. The temperature is roughly comparable to the room in a kitchen on a warm summer day. Starting from the size of the collection container and the average quantity of kitchen waste produced per person and tag, bifa calculated the test duration. The waste was stored once without waste bag in a plastic container and once each with a paper, PE and a biowaste bag made of the compostable plastic ecovio. The surfaces of the collection vessels were also taken into account. The second issue concerned microbial contamination on throwing the biowaste in the biobin. We examined how the type of collection (without waste bag or with ecovio bag) affects the airborne germ burden on throwing the collected waste in the biobin.
From all results, bifa deduced that by using ecovio bags to collect biowaste, the risk of infection is reduced, both in households and on placing the biowaste in the biobin.
bifa-Text No. 64 "Hygienically optimised collection of biowastes with ecovio biowaste bags" ("Hygienisch optimierte Sammlung von Bioabfällen mit ecovio-Bioabfalltüten") contains detailed documentation of the background information and relationships. This text can be purchased now from www.bifa.de. (Price: Euro 7.00 + VAT + p&p)