UNE-EN ISO 20136:2018

This International Standard specifies a test method to determine the degree and rate of aerobic biodegradation of hides and skins of different animal origin, whether they are tanned or not, through the indirect determination of CO2 produced by the degradation of collagen.The test material is exposed to an activated-sewage sludge inoculum in an aqueous medium, the inoculum being obtained from tannery biological tanks used in the tanning industry.The conditions established in this International Standard correspond to optimum laboratory conditions to achieve the maximum level of biodegradation. However, they may not necessarily correspond to the optimum conditions or maximum level of biodegradation in the natural medium.In general, the application of this test method can be extrapolated to the study of the biological degradation of any textile and/or polymeric material making up a shoe. Therefore, the experimental procedure covers the determination of the degradation degree and rate of the material under controlled conditions, which allows the analysis of the evolved carbon dioxide produced throughout the test. For this purpose, the testing equipment complies with strict requirements with regards to flow, temperature and agitation control.This method applies to the following materials:¾ðnatural polymers of animal stroma (animal tissue/skins),¾ðanimal hides and skins tanned (leather) using organic or inorganic tanning agents,¾ðleathers that, under testing conditions, do not inhibit the activity of microorganisms present in the inoculum.