Sustainability Criteria by Life Cycle Stage

The criteria are organized to provide guidance for the three critical stages of the product life cycle: (1) biomass production, (2) manufacturing, and (3) end of product life. The criteria and their corresponding levels are presented below. To qualify for a level, all Bronze level criteria must be met. To qualify for the Silver level, all the Bronze and Silver criteria must be met. To achieve the Gold level, all Bronze and Silver criteria must be met along with five of the listed Gold criteria. As a prerequisite, manufacturers and products must comply with all applicable environmental and occupational health and safety regulations. A description of the criteria, intent, and basic requirements for validating each criterion is included in later sections of this document. A companion document, Conformance Guide: BioSpecs for Compostable Biobased Food Service Ware, details how a manufacturer can access conformance to each criterion.

Prerequisites

Biomass Production

Manufacturing

End of Product Life