1 Scope
This document specifies procedures for preparing seawater and sediments used in test
methods to assess the biodegradation of plastic materials in the marine environment.
The screened sediment and sediment-rinsed seawater are prepared to sustain aerobic
testing at laboratory scale. The described method is designed to separate sediment-rinsed
seawater and sand-gravel sediments from intertidal sediments by wet filtration and
seawater flotation. This document does not include steps to enhance the biodegradation
of plastic materials by concentrating the natural seawater, adding nutrients to the
seawater, and pre-culturing the inoculum.
The methods described in this document are intended to be used in addition to issued
ISO standard test methods for evaluating the biodegradation and disintegration of
plastic materials. The applicable evaluation test methods are ISO 18830, ISO 19679, ISO 22404, ISO 23977-1, ISO 23977-2 and ISO 23832.
NOTE The conditions described in this document do not always correspond to the optimum
conditions for maximum biodegradation. This is a method of preparing test sediments
from coastal seafloor sediments, not a method of preparing sediments from deep-sea
seafloors.