ISO18830:2016规定了一种测定方法，通过测量封闭式呼吸计中的氧气需求，确定塑料材料在海水和海底交界处沉积在海相沙质沉积物上时好氧生物降解的程度和速率。 有氧生物降解的测量也可以通过监测二氧化碳的释放来获得。这不属于本标准的范围，而是ISO 19679的范围。 该测试方法是在海中不同海水/沉积物区域中发现的栖息地的实验室条件下的模拟，例如，在太阳光到达海底（光带）的海底区域，在海洋科学中称为亚滨带 海洋沉积物中塑料材料生物降解的测定不在本标准范围内。 本国际标准中描述的条件可能并不总是与发生最大程度的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.