*2.7. Degree of Disintegration under Composting Conditions of PLA Formulations Plasticized with MBNO and MHO*

The degree of disintegration of each compound was carried out according to the recommendations of the ISO 20200 standard. For this purpose, 7 different square samples for each compound of dimensions 25 <sup>×</sup> <sup>25</sup> <sup>×</sup> 1 mm<sup>3</sup> were buried in controlled soil. Previously, samples were dried at 40 ◦C for 24 h. To evaluate the disintegration process, samples were unburied on days 3, 7, 14, 17, 21, 24 and 27, washed with distilled water, dried at 45 ◦C for 24 h and weighed in an analytical balance. The degree of disintegration was calculated with the following equation given in ISO 20200:

$$D = \frac{m\_i - m\_r}{m\_i} \times 100\tag{3}$$

where *m<sup>i</sup>* is the initial mass of the sample before the test and *m<sup>r</sup>* is the weight of the sample extracted from compost soil on different days after drying. Photographs were also taken of each sample recovered on the days indicated to also qualitatively assess the disintegration process.
