Disclosure: XES Netting manufactures and sells conventional HDPE (polyethylene) bale net wrap — not the compostable products discussed on this page. We have no financial relationship with Nature’s Net Wrap, Blue Lake Plastics, CNH, Case IH, New Holland, Tama, or John Deere. This article evaluates a category we do not sell, using only sources we could verify directly.
The short version: Based on the manufacturer, distributor, extension, and regulatory sources we could directly verify, Nature’s Net Wrap is the only compostable net wrap we could confirm from reviewed public sources as commercially available to US producers — sold exclusively through the Case IH and New Holland (CNH) dealer network since May 2024, per CNH’s own sustainability report. That reflects the limits of our search, not proof that no other option exists anywhere in the market. CNH’s materials describe it as 100% plant-based and compostable when buried or sent to a composting facility. We could not independently confirm a current listing for the product in BPI’s public certified-products catalog, so treat any “certified compostable” claim as manufacturer-stated until you see the certificate yourself. Standing veterinary and extension guidance is to remove all net wrap and twine — conventional or compostable — before feeding; a rumen-breakdown study on this specific product is underway but unpublished, and is not a green light to leave it on bales.
Definitions: these words are not interchangeable
Manufacturers, retailers, and forum posts use these terms loosely. The FTC and material-testing standards do not. Here is what each one actually means:
| Term | What it actually means |
|---|---|
| Bio-based | Made from renewable feedstock (corn starch, plant fiber) instead of petroleum. Says nothing about whether the finished item breaks down in soil, water, or a landfill. |
| Biodegradable | Microorganisms can eventually convert the material into water, CO₂, and biomass — but the standard doesn’t specify how long or under what conditions unless the claim is qualified. In the US, unqualified “biodegradable” claims are regulated by the FTC (16 CFR 260.8). |
| Compostable | A specific, testable subset of biodegradable: the material must break down into usable compost within a defined time in a specific composting environment — home pile or industrial facility, and those are not interchangeable. Governed by FTC 16 CFR 260.7 and material-test standards such as ASTM D6400 (US) and EN 13432 (EU). |
| Soil-degradable | Breaks down when buried or left in ambient native soil, without needing an industrial composting facility’s heat and controlled moisture. This is a harder, less common claim than “compostable,” and we did not find a certified soil-degradability claim for any net wrap product in the sources we reviewed — that reflects the limits of our search, not proof none exists. |
| Marine-degradable | Breaks down in seawater (tested under standards like ASTM D6691). We did not find a marine-degradability claim for any net wrap product in the sources we reviewed. |
| Oxo-fragmentable (oxo-degradable) | Conventional plastic with additives that make it crumble into smaller fragments under UV and heat. It does not biodegrade in the compostable sense — the resulting fragments are generally treated as microplastic residue, not evidence of complete biodegradation. This is a different, lesser claim than compostable and shouldn’t be confused with it. |
| Edible | Intended to be safely digestible if an animal eats it — a digestive-safety claim, not an environmental-breakdown claim. As of this writing we found no US-commercialized net wrap product formally labeled “edible” in the sources we reviewed. |
The only confirmed option: Nature’s Net Wrap — evidence table
Here is what we could verify directly from CNH/Case IH’s own published material and independent research sources, versus what remains a manufacturer claim we could not independently confirm. We are not the manufacturer and were not given private test data — this table only reflects what is publicly documented.
| Attribute | Claim & source | Verification status |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer / distribution | Nature’s Net Wrap, distributed exclusively through Case IH and New Holland (CNH) dealers in North America since May 2024 (Case IH “Compostable Net Wrap” page; CNH Industrial 2024–2025 sustainability report) | Confirmed — direct manufacturer/distributor sources |
| Composition | Described as “100% plant based” (Case IH); underlying resin/fiber blend is proprietary | Confirmed as a manufacturer statement; exact chemistry not independently disclosed |
| Sizes | 48″, 51″, 64″, and 67″ widths (Case IH) | Confirmed; roll lengths vary by dealer — ask before ordering |
| Compostability certification (ASTM D6400 / EN 13432 / BPI) | CNH and Case IH call the product compostable (Case IH; CNH Industrial 2024–2025 sustainability report) | Unresolved. We searched BPI’s public certified-products catalog directly and found no listing or certificate/license number for this product. We are not calling the certification false — only that we could not confirm it from the certifying body’s own public database. Ask the manufacturer for the current certificate/license number before relying on this claim. |
| Rumen ingestion / animal safety | Alberta Beef Producers, with Lakeland College and RDAR funding, is running a cannulated-cattle study on rumen breakdown of a biodegradable net wrap (project page: “Goodbye Plastic? Evaluating a novel biological net wrap for Canada”) | Project and objectives confirmed via the funder’s own page. The only results document we located is an image-only PDF hosted on the manufacturer’s website, which we could not read or independently verify. No peer-reviewed, published result is confirmed here — treat this as in-progress research, not a safety verdict. |
| Field/compost breakdown claim | “When buried, the net wrap is consumed by soil micro-organisms and enzymes”; farmers are “encouraged to take the net wrap to their local composting facility” (Case IH) | Confirmed as a manufacturer/distributor statement. We found no independent field-trial data quantifying breakdown rate or timeline in ambient soil versus an industrial facility — see the composting section below. |
Can you leave it on the bale, or let cattle graze through it?
No. This is the point where marketing and standing animal-health guidance diverge, and we are not going to blur that line to make a “biodegradable” product sound safer than the evidence supports.
University extension guidance on net wrap and twine ingestion is consistent and not specific to one brand: net wrap and twine that ends up in the rumen does not reliably pass or digest on the timeline cattle need. University of Nebraska–Lincoln BeefWatch cites North Dakota State University research finding that rumen microbes do not digest plastic net wrap or biodegradable twine, and describes South Dakota State University and Montana State University feeding trials in which 47–53% of net wrap fed to cattle was later recovered from the rumen rather than passing through. SDSU Extension’s own forage-binding research is explicit that ingested net wrap and twine is not digestible in the rumen and that “prevention is key,” meaning removal before feeding — not a wrap material swap.
The Alberta Beef Producers / Lakeland College project described above is genuinely testing whether one specific compostable net wrap breaks down safely if accidentally ingested. That is a real and useful question, and the project and its objectives are confirmed directly on the funder’s own page — but no peer-reviewed or otherwise independently readable result is available to us, so no percentage, timeline, or safety verdict can be reported here. It is a single, in-progress product study — it is not a blanket finding that any “biodegradable” label makes bale-grazing or leaving wrap in a pasture a safe practice. Treat compostable net wrap the same way you treat conventional wrap for feeding purposes: remove it before the bale reaches livestock.
“Compostable” doesn’t mean your local facility will take it
Even a genuinely certified compostable product only breaks down on the timeline the certification describes if it ends up in the right environment. According to BPI’s own description of its certification testing, commercial (industrial-facility) composting and home composting are tested and certified separately, under different required timeframes and temperatures — a product certified for one setting is not automatically certified for the other. We are intentionally not reproducing the specific numeric biodegradation or disintegration thresholds from the ASTM D6400 or EN 13432 standards themselves here: those standards are copyrighted documents we have not licensed to quote, and in any case the general standard parameters are not a substitute for this specific, currently unresolved product certification. What matters for a buyer: industrial composting runs at controlled, elevated heat that a farm windrow, backyard pile, or ordinary field soil across most of the continental US does not reach, so “compostable” certified for one setting cannot be assumed to apply to another.
The FTC’s compostable-claims rule (16 CFR 260.7) requires marketers to qualify a compostable claim if municipal or institutional composting facilities are not available to a substantial majority of consumers where the product is sold, and to disclose it clearly if the item can’t be composted safely in a home pile. In practice this means: before you count on “compostable” as a disposal plan, call your actual local or regional composting facility and ask two questions — do they accept agricultural net wrap specifically (some facilities restrict feedstock types), and do they have documentation that this product meets their intake spec. A national certification does not guarantee your specific hauler or facility takes this material.
What the FTC Green Guides actually require
These are not marketing suggestions — they are enforceable rules from the Federal Trade Commission (16 CFR Part 260), and they apply to any US seller making an environmental claim, including us:
- Degradable (16 CFR 260.8): An unqualified “degradable” or “biodegradable” claim requires competent scientific evidence that the entire item will completely decompose within about one year after customary disposal. Items customarily disposed of in landfills, incinerators, or standard recycling streams cannot carry an unqualified degradable claim, because those environments don’t support complete decomposition in a year.
- Compostable (16 CFR 260.7): Requires evidence the material becomes usable compost in a safe, timely manner in the specific setting claimed (home pile vs. industrial facility) — and requires disclosure if facilities aren’t widely available or if home composting isn’t suitable.
- Recyclable (16 CFR 260.12): A product shouldn’t be marketed as recyclable unless it can actually be collected and recovered through an established program. Unqualified recyclable claims require that collection be available to a “substantial majority” (the FTC treats this as roughly 60%+) of consumers where it’s sold; below that, the claim must be qualified with the actual limited availability.
Applied here: the reviewed evidence does not establish that any bale net wrap — compostable or conventional — has recycling collection reaching the FTC’s roughly 60%+ “substantial majority” access threshold, so this article cannot substantiate an unqualified recyclable claim for either category; we are not making one. And any “biodegradable in the field” claim for net wrap left in ordinary soil would need product-specific decomposition evidence at that one-year mark to be honest under 260.8; we did not find that evidence for any product discussed here.
Is John Deere B-Wrap biodegradable?
No, and it isn’t marketed as such. According to Tama (the manufacturer, in partnership with John Deere) and Deere’s own MachineFinder publication, B-Wrap is built around Tama SCM™ film technology combined with CoverEdge™ net wrap. Its stated purpose is weather protection for outdoor-stored bales — it sheds rain, snow, and ground moisture while letting internal water vapor escape, aiming for “barn-quality hay without the barn.” Nothing in Tama’s or Deere’s own material describes B-Wrap as biodegradable, compostable, or an environmental product; it is a moisture-management product. We did not find, and are not asserting, any claim about how the film component fragments or persists over time — that data isn’t published by the manufacturer, so we won’t speculate on it. If you’re choosing B-Wrap, choose it for weather protection, not for compostability, and remove and dispose of it the same way you would conventional net wrap.
Does organic certification require compostable wrap?
Not automatically. USDA organic rules control synthetic materials crop-by-crop through the National List (7 CFR 205.601) and each operation’s certifier-approved Organic System Plan (OSP). The regulation explicitly lists categories like mulch films by name, but baling net wrap is not called out as its own defined category the way mulch film is. That means whether a given net wrap — compostable or conventional — is acceptable for a certified organic operation is a determination your certifying agent makes based on your OSP, not a blanket rule that organic production requires compostable wrap, and not a rule that absence from the National List automatically means a material is allowed. If a buyer or co-op contract requires certified-compostable materials, that is a buyer specification, not a USDA organic mandate. Confirm directly with your certifier before assuming either material is required or excluded.
Responsible disposal, regardless of wrap type
- Never burn net wrap. Per EPA guidance on dioxins from backyard/open burning, burning plastic or bio-based netting can release hazardous emissions. Whether open burning is legal where you are is a matter of state and local law and varies by jurisdiction — check your specific state and county rules rather than assuming either way.
- If it ends up in a landfill, that carries no green claim. Landfills are typically cold and largely anaerobic; per the FTC’s own guidance (16 CFR 260.8), material customarily disposed of that way generally doesn’t decompose within a year, so a “biodegradable” or “compostable” label is not a meaningful benefit conditional on a specific load actually reaching a landfill — we are not asserting that landfill is the customary disposal path for this product.
- Sort and keep it clean. Whichever disposal or composting route you use, keep wrap free of excess feed debris, twine, and mixed plastics so it isn’t rejected at intake.
- Confirm acceptance before you haul it. Don’t assume a take-back, recycling, or composting program exists for your area or this material class — call ahead and confirm current, direct acceptance rather than relying on a program you saw referenced elsewhere.
Buyer verification checklist
- Ask the manufacturer or dealer for the current ASTM D6400 or EN 13432 certificate, with a certificate/license number you can look up directly with the certifying body (BPI in the US, TÜV Austria/DIN CERTCO in the EU) — not just a logo on packaging.
- Call your actual local or regional composting facility and confirm, in writing if possible, that they accept agricultural net wrap and that this specific product meets their intake spec.
- If animal safety is your concern, ask for the specific published or peer-reviewed study behind any rumen or ingestion-safety claim — not a marketing summary of it.
- If organic certification matters to your operation, ask your certifying agent directly whether this material is acceptable under your Organic System Plan before you buy a season’s supply.
- Don’t assume “compostable” means safe to leave in a field or pasture — standing extension guidance is to remove all net wrap and twine before feeding, regardless of material.
Limitations of this article
We are a net wrap manufacturer, not a polymer scientist, composting engineer, regulatory attorney, or veterinarian. This article reflects what we could verify from official manufacturer/distributor sources, government regulatory text, and publicly available university and industry-association research pages as of August 2026. It is not a certification audit, a legal opinion on FTC compliance, an animal-safety clearance, or a life-cycle assessment. A full evaluation of any specific compostable net wrap product would require independent polymer-degradation testing, facility-specific composting verification, a qualified review of environmental-marketing claims against the FTC Green Guides, and animal-safety data reviewed by a veterinarian or animal scientist — none of which we are positioned to provide. Where we could not confirm a claim directly, we said so rather than repeating it as fact.
Frequently asked questions
Is a truly biodegradable or compostable net wrap available to US bale producers right now?
The only one we could confirm from reviewed public sources: Nature’s Net Wrap, sold exclusively through Case IH and New Holland (CNH) dealers in North America since May 2024. CNH describes it as 100% plant-based and compostable. We could not independently confirm a current, publicly listed ASTM D6400/EN 13432 certification number, so verify the certificate directly with the manufacturer before relying on that specific claim.
What’s the actual difference between “biodegradable” and “compostable” net wrap?
Biodegradable means microorganisms can eventually break the material down, but says nothing about how long that takes or under what conditions unless the claim is qualified. Compostable is more specific: it requires the material to become usable compost within a defined timeframe in a defined setting — home pile or industrial facility — and those two settings are not interchangeable.
Is it safe to leave biodegradable net wrap on a bale or let cattle graze through it?
No. Standing university extension guidance (Nebraska, South Dakota State) is to remove all net wrap and twine before feeding, because ingested net wrap and twine — including biodegradable twine, per North Dakota State University research — does not reliably digest or pass through the rumen. A specific rumen-safety study on one compostable net wrap product is underway (Alberta Beef Producers / Lakeland College), but it is preliminary, is not yet independently published in a form we could verify, and does not override current removal guidance.
Will compostable net wrap break down in a home compost pile, or only at an industrial facility?
That depends on the specific certification, and it is exactly the qualification the FTC requires marketers to disclose. Industrial (commercial-facility) and home composting are tested and certified separately, under different timeframes and heat levels that a backyard pile does not replicate. Before assuming home composting works, confirm with the manufacturer whether the product is certified for home composting specifically, and separately confirm your local facility accepts it if you’re relying on industrial composting.
Is John Deere B-Wrap biodegradable?
No. B-Wrap combines Tama SCM™ film with CoverEdge™ net wrap and is marketed by Tama and John Deere strictly as weather protection for outdoor bale storage — shedding rain and snow while venting water vapor. Neither manufacturer markets it as biodegradable or compostable, and we found no published data on how the film component breaks down over time.
How can I verify a manufacturer’s biodegradable or compostable claim myself?
Ask for the current certificate (ASTM D6400/EN 13432) with a certificate or license number you can look up directly with the certifying body, such as BPI’s public certified-products catalog. Separately, call your local composting facility to confirm they accept the specific material. A logo or marketing statement alone is not verification.
