MINGKAI Paper Products
Provincial standard · Hunan, China

DB43/T 2844-2023

General technical requirements for biodegradable paper-plastic composite materials and products

This is the document that defines, in China, what counts as a biodegradable paper-plastic composite — how it is classified, which degradation and safety limits apply, how it is tested, and how it may be labelled. Mingkai is its first drafting unit.

The record

Standard numberDB43/T 2844-2023
TitleGeneral technical requirements for biodegradable paper-plastic composite materials and products
Issued2023-11-09
Effective2024-02-09
Proposed byHunan Provincial Development and Reform Commission
Administered byHunan Circular Economy Standardization Technical Committee
Drafting bodies12
First drafting unitChangsha Mingkai Paper Products Co., Ltd.
First drafting authorZheng Huafu
Issuing authorityHunan Provincial Administration for Market Regulation
What this standard is — and is not. DB43/T is a provincial standard, not a mandatory national standard. It governs products within Hunan and is cited voluntarily elsewhere. We state this plainly because a buyer who discovers it after we have implied otherwise stops trusting everything else on the page.

What it actually specifies

Five areas, each with defined test methods rather than descriptive language.

01
Classification
Separates paper-plastic composites by coating type — traditional plastic films (PE, PP, PET) versus biodegradable films (PLA, water-based dispersions). The distinction is material-based, not marketing-based.
02
Degradation performance
Sets degradation requirements and the test methods used to demonstrate them, so that two suppliers quoting “biodegradable” are measured against the same procedure.
03
Heavy metals and specific elements
Limits on heavy metals and specified elements in the finished material — the part of a food-contact file that quietly decides whether a shipment clears customs.
04
Antibacterial performance
Requirements and the test method for antibacterial performance, applicable where the product makes such a claim.
05
Marking, packaging, transport, storage
How the product is identified and handled after it leaves the line — the section that determines whether documentation and physical goods still match at the port.

Why a European buyer should care

Most of the confusion in biodegradable packaging sourcing comes from the word itself. “Biodegradable” has no single meaning across jurisdictions, and a supplier's brochure is not a definition. A standard is: it names the test, the threshold and the method, so the claim can be checked by someone who does not trust you.

This standard matters to a buyer outside China for one practical reason — it tells you whether your supplier is working to a written specification at all, and what that specification covers.

Standards it references

DB43/T 2844-2023 is built on five existing national standards rather than inventing its own methods. If you are auditing a supplier's file, these are the numbers to look for.

GB/T 18006.3-2020Referenced method / specification
GB/T 41010-2021Referenced method / specification
GB/T 36392-2018Referenced method / specification
GB/T 10335.3-2018Referenced method / specification
GB/T 42702-2023Referenced method / specification
A note on equivalence. Chinese GB/T methods and European EN 13432 are separate systems with different test protocols. A product tested to a Chinese standard is not automatically EN 13432 compliant, and we do not present it as such. Where a European certificate is required, it has to be obtained separately — see documents.

Need the standard applied to your specification?

Send the product form and the market you are selling into. We will tell you which clauses apply and which test reports you should be asking for.

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