BPI vs CMA vs TUV OK Compost: Which Compostable Certification Matters

For a US foodservice buyer, BPI is the certification that matters most: it is the mark state labeling laws effectively point to, the one composters check first, and the only one backed by a public lookup database. CMA matters when the composter actually receiving your material demands field-tested products, and TUV Austria’s OK Compost marks matter for home-compostable claims and for products sold into Europe.

This is the follow-up to our BPI certification explainer, which covers what the BPI process involves from the manufacturer’s side. This article is the buyer’s side: what each of the three marks proves, where each one is required or merely nice to have, and how to verify a claim before you commit to a truckload.

The three marks at a glance

The three are not competitors so much as layers. CMA requires lab-based compostability data (BPI certification or equivalent ASTM testing) as a prerequisite before it will field test anything. TUV tests to the European standard, so it runs parallel to BPI rather than above or below it. A product aimed at a national US chain account often carries two or all three marks.

What BPI tests, briefly

BPI certifies to ASTM D6400 as the base standard, with ASTM D6868 applied to coated paper and fiber items and the newer D8410 available for eligible products. The lab work covers biodegradation, disintegration, heavy metals, and ecotoxicity: does the material actually turn into carbon dioxide and biomass, does it physically fall apart, and is the resulting compost safe to grow in.

The piece buyers most often miss is the fluorine rule. Since January 1, 2020, every BPI-certified item must test below 100 ppm total fluorine, and the manufacturer must sign a statement that no fluorinated chemicals were intentionally added. That makes the BPI mark a de facto PFAS screen, which is why it shows up in procurement specs that never mention composting at all. For what the screening does and does not prove, see the deeper dive in our PFAS testing guide.

A note on where plain paper fits in all this: our SOS kraft bags are kraft paper with no bioplastic liner, and uncoated kraft is one of the few packaging categories composters accept as ordinary carbon feedstock without asking for a mark. The compostability costs nothing extra. Pricing from our current catalog: the 16# brown SOS bag runs $14.54 per 500-count case, which is $14.54 divided by 500, or about 2.9 cents per bag. The 16# white version runs $19.71 per 500-count case, about 3.9 cents per bag. The $5.17 per-case difference is bleaching, not certification. Certification economics only enter the picture when paper adds a grease barrier or when you move to bioplastics.

What CMA adds: field disintegration

CMA exists because of a gap the lab standards leave open. ASTM D6400 and D6868 allow up to 180 days for full biodegradation under controlled lab conditions. Many commercial composters run active cycles of 60 days or less, at whatever moisture and temperature their real-world pile happens to hit. A dense CPLA fork or a thick molded-fiber lid can hold a valid lab certificate and still come out of a real windrow recognizably intact. Composters who find your fork in their finished compost stop accepting foodservice packaging, certified or not.

CMA’s answer is field disintegration testing: the product goes into operating commercial facilities and has to disappear within the facility’s actual cycle. Testing spans the major processing technologies in use in the US, including open aerated static piles, turned windrows, mass beds, and agitated continuous-flow tunnel systems, because an item that vanishes in a hot tunnel system can survive a cooler static pile.

Two prerequisites before CMA will field test anything: existing lab compostability data (BPI certification or testing to ASTM D6400/D6868 or the international equivalents), and a laboratory result showing under 100 ppm total fluorine from a CMA-approved lab. Note the vocabulary on spec sheets: CMA “acceptance” means the paperwork and prerequisites check out, while CMA “certification” means the product passed the actual field composting. Certification is the stronger claim.

When does CMA matter to you as a buyer? When your customer’s hauler or municipality names it. Programs in markets with strained composting capacity increasingly require field-validated products because contamination is their biggest operating cost. If you sell into a jurisdiction where the composter publishes an accepted-products list, check whether it is CMA-based before you stock a program around a BPI-only item. Our state-by-state composting infrastructure guide covers where those programs actually exist in the Southeast.

TUV Austria: OK Compost Industrial vs Home

TUV Austria runs the dominant European program, and its two marks answer different questions.

OK Compost Industrial certifies to EN 13432, the European standard that parallels ASTM D6400: biodegradation, disintegration, heavy metals, and ecotoxicity under industrial composting conditions. If a product is made in Europe or sold on both continents, this is the mark it carries there.

OK Compost Home is the more interesting one for US buyers, because there is no widely adopted US home-compostable certification. Home certification starts from the EN 13432 material requirements, then adds biodegradation testing at ambient temperatures of roughly 20 to 30 degrees Celsius, with at least 90 percent degradation required within 12 months. A backyard pile never reaches the sustained heat of an industrial facility, so an industrial cert says nothing about a home pile. If a supplier claims “home compostable,” OK Compost Home is currently the credible evidence, and it is rare: mostly thin films, bags, and papers, almost never rigid containers. The material chemistry behind why is covered in our PLA vs CPLA vs bagasse comparison.

The catch for US compliance: state laws are written around the ASTM standards. A TUV-only item may be genuinely compostable and still fail a US labeling law that requires certification to ASTM D6400/D6868 by an approved third party. Dual certification is the clean answer, and most serious manufacturers carry it.

What state laws actually require

Three states anchor the US regulatory picture as of 2026, and none of them names a certifier brand in statute. They require third-party certification, which in practice points at BPI for US-market products.

California’s AB 1201 (signed 2021) requires that anything labeled compostable meet the ASTM standards and, once CalRecycle approves certifying entities, carry certification from an approved third party. It also ties compostable claims to USDA National Organic Program input eligibility, and that federal dependency is why CalRecycle extended the compliance deadline: enforcement of the stricter requirements now begins June 30, 2027, per CalRecycle’s June 2025 announcement.

Washington requires approved labeling and third-party certification for compostable products as of January 1, 2024, with enforcement starting July 1, 2024, including a visible certification logo, a green, beige, or brown color signal, and the word “compostable” on the product.

Colorado’s SB 23-253 requires, as of July 1, 2024, that foodservice and plastic products labeled compostable be certified by an independent third-party body, with green labeling to distinguish them.

No Southeast state has an equivalent law yet, but chain accounts headquartered in regulated states push these requirements into every market they operate in. The broader trajectory is covered in our compostable packaging outlook.

How to verify a certification claim on a spec sheet

Logos are artwork. Verify the claim behind them in about three minutes:

1. Pull the certificate holder’s name off the spec sheet. Often the certificate belongs to the resin or blank manufacturer, not the brand on the box. You need the name the certifier lists.
2. Search products.bpiworld.org. BPI’s catalog is public. Search the company, find the item, and confirm the listing is in good standing. The catalog also flags which items are additionally certified home compostable.
3. Match the exact item. Certification is item-specific. A certified 9-inch plate does not cover the 10-inch, and a certified natural-color item does not automatically cover the printed version. Match the item description, not just the brand.
4. For CMA, check the published list. CMA publishes its accepted and certified products; confirm whether the item shows as accepted or field-test certified.
5. For TUV, ask for the certificate PDF. OK Compost certificates carry a license code. A supplier with a real certificate produces it same-day.

Red flags: “meets ASTM D6400” with no certifier named (self-declared, not certified), “biodegradable” used where you asked about compostable (a legally meaningless word in this context, and restricted on labels in several states), a cert number that returns nothing in the database, and PFAS-free claims with no fluorine test report attached.

Buyer checklist

• Selling compostable plastics or coated fiber into CA, WA, or CO, or to chains based there: require BPI certification and verify it in the database.
• Customer’s composter publishes an accepted list: check whether it is CMA-based before committing to SKUs.
• Any “home compostable” claim: require TUV OK Compost Home. No other mark currently supports the claim.
• Any grease-resistant paper: ask what the barrier is and request the total fluorine report.
• Plain uncoated kraft (SOS bags, twisted-handle shoppers, liquor bags): no mark needed. Composters take clean paper as feedstock.
• Keep the verification screenshot or certificate PDF in the vendor file. When a health department or a chain auditor asks, you answer in one email.