• ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY 21XX

  • Offer Profile
  • Normec OWS is a one-stop laboratory for degradation and toxicity testing of materials, working according to international quality standards. As a strictly independent laboratory, we are recognized by all major certification bureaus worldwide in the field of (bio)degradability and compostability. Over the past 35+ years, we have tested thousands of material samples for hundreds of clients all over the world. These include packaging materials, such as plastics and paper, food service ware, adhesives, inks, detergents, consumer products, mineral oils, specialty chemicals, agricultural and horticultural products, and many more.
Product Portfolio

  • Normec OWS

      • Degradation and Toxicity

      • The use of plastics is so widespread that they can be found everywhere, floating around in our rivers, oceans, and embedded into soil. Whenever plastic products end up in nature they should preferably degrade over time and not cause harm to the environment. At Normec OWS, we therefore offer degradation and toxicity testing under varying conditions to mimic how materials degrade and behave when they end up in different environments.

        The environment in which the product is tested should primarily depend upon its expected end-of-life. Degradability is not only an inherent material characteristic, but also depends on environmental conditions such as the temperature, biological activity, and microbial diversity. For instance, the inactivity of fungi in landfills and aqueous environments has a major impact on the degradability of certain materials. Environments also differ in terms of aggressiveness; as a rule of thumb, industrial compost is considered most aggressive, followed by home compost, and soil. Aqueous environments are generally less aggressive.

          • Industrial composting

          • Industrial composting plants are designed to process large volumes of organic waste. These streams of biowaste can, however, include a fraction of plastic products originating from items such as waste collection bags, coffee capsules, or packaging materials. These need to rapidly degrade without leaving harmful residues to ensure high-quality compost that can be used safely. Normec OWS therefore performs degradation and environmental safety testing for a wide range of products in industrial compost.

            Normec OWS performs industrial composting testing according to all international and national standards, including ISO 17088, ISO 18606, EN 14995, EN 13432, ASTM D6400, ASTM D6868, ASTM D8410 and AS 4736.

          • Home composting

          • Manmade products, such as coffee pads or capsules, tea bags, or fruit stickers that end up in home composting should simply degrade without any negative effect on compost quality. Normec OWS performs degradation and environmental safety testing for home composting, which can be used for certification purposes, making public or legal claims, or for research & development. The standards for home compostability testing are directly based on those for industrial composting, since the two processes mainly differ in temperature and duration.

             

          • Soil degradation

          • Different kinds of man-made material can end up in soil either through unintended or intended use. Mulch film, plant pots, fertilizer coating, and body bags, for example, are purposeful products for which biodegradability offers big benefits. Normec OWS offers different types of soil degradation testing to determine the (bio)degradation, chemical characteristics, and ecotoxicity of materials in accordance with the available standards. A test temperature of 20 to 28°C is allowed. We can offer test temperatures of 20°C, 25°C and 28°C.

          • Fresh water degradation

          • Specific consumer products, such as detergents or flushable wipes and refills, can inevitably end up in a fresh water environment. Biodegradability of these products helps to prevent any kind of damage to the ecosystem. Normec OWS offers different types of fresh water degradation testing to determine the degradation and chemical characteristics of materials in accordance with the available standards.

          • Marine degradation

          • Plastics used for specific marine products, such as fishing nets, lines, and baits, can inevitably end up in the ocean. Biodegradability of these materials offers enormous benefits to prevent damage to ecosystems and the environment. At Normec OWS, we offer different types of marine degradation testing for different materials in sea water, as well as testing for heavy metals & fluorine and toxicity, all in accordance with the available standards.

          • Anaerobic degradation

          • Normec OWS offers anaerobic degradation testing to provide detailed insight into the biodegradation and/or disintegration of a material or complete product in an anaerobic environment. Anaerobic degradation mainly occurs in purpose-built environments, such as managed end-of-life anaerobic digestion (AD) and waste water treatment plants, as well as landfills. The conditions differ, however, depending on the environment.

          • Abiotic degradation

          • As opposed to biodegradation, abiotic degradation is a non-microbial process that concerns the fragmentation of the material into many small pieces, influenced by UV light and/or heat. At Normec OWS, we perform abiotic degradation testing that accurately replicates natural thermal fluctuations and sunlight conditions. Although no certificates exist, the test results can be used for making legal or marketing claims, or for research & development purposes.

          • Ecotoxicity

          • Parent compounds, or metabolites and degradation residuals, should not cause harm to the environment in which they end up by having any kind of toxic effect. To establish this, we offer ecotoxicity testing at Normec OWS. We do ecotoxicity testing on parent compounds, or on the residuals after degradation in various environments, to ensure that the materials used will not damage ecosystems.

        • Waste inspection

        • Normec OWS offers a wide range of waste inspection services, including administrative and technical auditing, litter monitoring, and sorting analyses. Our services can be applied to gain specific insight across many different kinds of waste streams. This includes analysis of waste composition and quantities categorized by the many different types of material found in industrial, electronic, household, or organic waste, and municipal litter.

            • Administrative & Technical Audits

            • Determine different kinds of waste streams

              Normec OWS’s services also include performing administrative and technical audits on waste streams, treatment processes, and installations. The main purpose of these activities is to give precise insight into the actual composition of waste streams. This is done to verify the amount of waste, for example, or to determine the degree of contamination in waste streams for recycling or composting.

            • Litter monitoring

            • Determine different kinds of waste streams

              Normec OWS offers on-site litter monitoring services. This is an accurate and objective way of determining the amount and composition of litter found across a specific geographical area of any size. We perform litter monitoring across large municipal areas, for example, to determine the effectiveness of litter-reducing measures taken by government or industry.

            • Sorting analysis

            • Determine different kinds of waste streams

              Normec OWS performs sorting analyses to monitor the purity of various industrial and domestic waste streams. These include household waste, organic waste, municipal litter, industrial waste, electronic waste, and construction and demolition waste. Our sorting analyses provide insight into the exact composition and amount of all kinds of material found in these different waste streams. These analyses help to optimize quality control of different collection systems of various waste streams.

          • Sustainability Assessments

          • At Normec OWS, we strive for the sustainable development of our own and other companies. We can support you by calculating the environmental impact of your processes and facilities from your representative data. Our sustainability assessments will enable you to improve and make a difference for your company, your customers, and the environment.

            As part of our assessments, we offer Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and footprint (FP) impact calculations. These are done according to internationally accepted standards and methodologies, and using up-to-date databases. We map the potential impacts of your products and/or activities and where and how improvements can and should be made.

              • CO2 Footprint

              • At Normec OWS, we perform Carbon Footprint (CFP) studies as an application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology that focuses specifically on the climate change impact category. While an LCA analyses the impact of a product or service on various (environmental) impact categories, a CFP study determines specifically the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated at product or service level.

              • ISO 14040/14044 LCA

              • Normec OWS performs Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) in compliance with the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards. These provide a clear framework and guidelines, while still allowing plenty of freedom for the LCA practitioner to focus on very specific research questions. As such, they are perfect for research projects in which the assessed processes are still at conceptual, lab, or pilot scale; for study subjects that are more complicated than single products or organizations; or in order to answer very specific questions.

              • Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)

              • Normec OWS creates Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for communication of the potential environmental impacts of a product, as produced by a specific company or organization. EPDs offer a wider view on the environmental impact than Carbon Footprints, as more diverse impact categories are assessed. An EPD can be used in business-to-business communication to inform potential downstream clients of the environmental impacts of a product.

              • Product Environmental Footprint (PEF)

              • Normec OWS creates both Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and Organization Environmental Footprint (OEF) reports. These are methodologies that state how to calculate the environmental impact of a product, or service, and organizational activities within the European context. The PEF and OEF methodologies are standardized, LCA-based sustainability assessments based on the ISO 14040 and 14044 standards.

              • Life Cycle Costing (LCC)

              • The Life Cycle Costing (LCC) method provides insight into the economic aspects of the full or partial lifecycles of products and services. The costs created over the whole life cycle are often not reflected in the consumer price. In many cases, there are associated, maintenance, or external costs, such as environmental costs related to production and decommissioning.

              • Circularity index

              • A circularity index is a score that represents the degree of circularity potential of a product throughout its lifecycle, as measured by one or more circularity indicators. At Normec OWS, we can create a circularity index for you based on your data. This is useful for manufacturers, for example, as it provides quantitative information to support circularity claims. It can also be used to measure and improve the circularity of material flows.

            • Analytical services

            • At Normec OWS, we can support you with a range of analytical services. These include heavy metals & fluorine testing, biobased carbon content, compost analyses, milling, and FT-IR spectroscopy, all done under strict quality controls. As a flexible, customer-centered laboratory, we can perform these analytical services individually, to establish specific product characteristics, or as part of a wider scope. If you have any specific questions or custom requirements regarding the nature of your product, please get in touch to see how we can be of help.

                • Heavy metals & fluorine testing

                • The chemical characteristics of a product or material determine how safe it is. Most important in this respect are the heavy metals and fluorine, as these can have a negative effect on the environment. Normec OWS offers heavy metals and fluorine testing as a standalone service and also as a standard part of composting and certification testing. We can test for 11 different kinds of heavy metal and fluor.

                • Biobased carbon content

                • Biobased carbon testing is a specific method used to determine the amount of carbon in a product that is derived from biomass, as opposed to non-circular and/or fossil origin. While this can be used to gain insight into the natural, renewable resources used in a product, it is no indicator of biodegradability. Biobased carbon is not necessarily biodegradable, just as biodegradable carbon is not necessarily biobased.

                • Compost analyses

                • Normec OWS offers a wide range of analysis services on compost, fertilizers and other soil improvers. This enables industrial composting and fermentation plants to ensure that their products comply with laws and regulations. These analyses are carried out under strict quality controls.

                • Milling

                • The milling of all kinds of materials is an essential part of our biodegradability testing, to ensure an efficient process. Upon request, Normec OWS also offers milling as a separate service, whereby we ship the milled materials to our customers. We have a range of cutting mills available for the shredding, grinding, or milling of different types of material, including soft, fibrous, hard, and elastic materials.

                • FT-IR spectrum

                • Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy is a technique that can be used to identify materials and compounds by creating an infrared spectrum of absorption. While FT-IR spectroscopy is a standard part of compostability testing, at Normec OWS we also offer this as a separate service for individual products or materials. This allows for the identification or verification of materials, checking supplier claims, or establishing purity or degree of contamination.

              • Consulting

              • With over 30 years’ experience in Biodegradability, Compostability, Disintegration & Ecotoxicity (BCDE) research and testing, Normec OWS has built up a great deal of expertise. We participate in many certification and standardization committees, European projects, and international conferences. As the global market leader in the field of BCDE, we are highly motivated to share our expertise and offer a number of consulting services to our customers. These range from creating tailored reports on new standards, market developments, and legislation to educational and product evaluation services, intended to help optimize your product and company strategy.

                  • Education

                  • The world of (bio)degradability and compostability is complex with many nuances related to such issues as the product application, materials used, and the designated end-of-life. At Normec OWS, we offer educational services to our customers, such as webinars, inhouse study days on location, or presentations at company meetings and events. These can be fully tailored to your needs, providing anything from a broad and clear introduction to the field of (bio)degradation and compostability to a detailed outline of one or more related specific topics.

                  • Intelligence services

                  • Normec OWS is very actively involved in the development of new international standards related to biodegradability in various environments, organic recovery of waste (composting and anaerobic digestion), and environmental fate and safety. We are therefore at the frontline of new developments, sometimes years ahead of their market introduction. We can help our clients by creating tailored and highly detailed reports with specific information that is of interest to them. These may include information on new standards, market developments, and changes in legislation that can be used for research & development activities or for developing your product and company strategy.

                  • Product evaluation

                  • While technically much is possible in the field of (bio)degradation and compostability, making the right material choices for your product application can be challenging. Not least because there are many claims made by suppliers which can be difficult to verify. As a strictly objective and impartial laboratory, working from a scientifically based approach, Normec OWS provides product evaluation services to help you verify such claims and make the right decisions for your product and strategy development.