ISO 18830:2016规定了一种试验方法，通过在封闭式呼吸计中测量需氧量，确定塑料材料在海水和海底界面处的海洋砂质沉积物上沉降时的需氧生物降解程度和速率。 好氧生物降解的测量也可以通过监测二氧化碳的演变来获得。这不在本国际标准的范围内，而是ISO 19679的范围内。 本试验方法是在实验室条件下对海洋中不同海水/沉积物区域中发现的栖息地进行的模拟，例如，阳光照射到海底的底栖区（光照区），在海洋科学中，这被称为近岸区 海洋沉积物中塑料材料生物降解的测定不在本国际标准的范围内。 本国际标准中描述的条件可能并不总是与发生最大程度生物降解的最佳条件相对应。

ISO 18830:2016 specifies a test method to determine the degree and rate of aerobic biodegradation of plastic materials when settled on marine sandy sediment at the interface between seawater and the seafloor, by measuring the oxygen demand in a closed respirometer. Measurement of aerobic biodegradation can also be obtained by monitoring the carbon dioxide evolution. This is not in the scope of this International Standard but of ISO 19679. This test method is a simulation under laboratory conditions of the habitat found in different seawater/sediment-areas in the sea, e.g. in a benthic zone where sunlight reaches the ocean floor (photic zone) that, in marine science, is called sublittoral zone The determination of biodegradation of plastic materials buried in marine sediment is outside the scope of this International Standard. The conditions described in this International Standard may not always correspond to the optimum conditions for the maximum degree of biodegradation to occur.