---
title: "Home compostable — what it means"
description: "Certified to break down in an ordinary garden compost heap at ambient temperature. What the symbol looks like, what happens if you ignore it, and where its meaning d"
url: https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-home-compostable/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Home compostable

**Home compostable: Certified to break down in an ordinary garden compost heap at ambient temperature.**

## What it looks like

A seedling or leaf mark with the word HOME, or a seedling inside a house outline. TÜV Austria issues it as OK compost HOME.

## What it means

The stricter of the two composting claims, and the one that means what most people assume the plain seedling means. Certification tests disintegration at 20–30 °C rather than 55–60, over twelve months rather than six. Far less packaging qualifies, and the mark should not be assumed from a "compostable" or "biodegradable" word claim, which is unregulated in most markets and can describe a material that takes decades. Even a home-compostable item still needs a heap — it will not break down usefully in a landfill.

> Defined by TÜV Austria OK compost HOME / AS 5810 / NF T51-800. Where a symbol differs between standards, the difference is described above rather than resolved — both versions are in circulation on real labels.

## Other packaging and recycling symbols

| Symbol | Means |
| --- | --- |
| Mobius loop (chasing arrows) | The producer claims the item can be recycled — not that it will be, and not that your council collects it. |
| Mobius loop with a percentage | The pack contains that percentage of recycled material. |
| Green Dot (Der Grüne Punkt) | The producer paid into a national packaging recovery scheme. It does not mean the pack is recyclable, recycled, or made of recycled material. |
| Tidyman | Dispose of this thoughtfully. It has nothing to do with recycling. |
| Glass recycling (bottle bank) symbol | Take this glass to a bottle bank or glass collection. |
| Aluminium recycling (alu) | The item is aluminium and can be recycled as aluminium. |
| Recyclable steel | The item is steel — usually tinplate — and is separated magnetically for recycling. |
| Compostable seedling (EN 13432) | Certified to break down in an industrial composting facility — not in a home heap, a bin or the environment. |
| FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) | The wood or paper comes from forests audited against the Forest Stewardship Council standard. |
| PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) | The wood or paper is certified under a national forestry scheme that PEFC endorses. |
| OPRL — Recycle / Don't Recycle (UK) | Whether this specific component is collected by most UK councils. |
| Triman (France) | In France, this product or packaging is subject to sorting rules and must not go in the general waste. |
| Estimated sign (℮) | The quantity is an average across the batch, checked under the EU average-quantity system. |

## Common questions

### What does the home compostable symbol mean?

Certified to break down in an ordinary garden compost heap at ambient temperature.

### What does it look like?

A seedling or leaf mark with the word HOME, or a seedling inside a house outline. TÜV Austria issues it as OK compost HOME.

## Related pages

- [Compostable seedling (EN 13432)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-compostable-seedling/)
- [Plastic 7 marked PLA — polylactic acid](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/plastic-7-pla/)
- [Mobius loop (chasing arrows)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-mobius-loop/)
- [Mobius loop with a percentage](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-mobius-percentage/)
- [Green Dot (Der Grüne Punkt)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-green-dot/)
- [Tidyman](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-tidyman/)
- [Glass recycling (bottle bank) symbol](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-glass-recycling/)
- [Aluminium recycling (alu)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-aluminium/)
- [Recyclable steel](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-steel/)
- [Compostable seedling (EN 13432)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-compostable-seedling/)
- [FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-fsc/)
- [PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification)](https://atoneplace.net/symbol/packaging-pefc/)

## Sources

- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place (/about/)