Designed for recycling (paper)

First and foremost, it is important to highlight that this ecolabel does not guarantee that the product will be recycled. The actual recycling of a paper product relies on a long chain of responsible decision making that starts with sustainable product design and ends with effective local recycling infrastructures.

Products with this ecolabel can be recycled in the current paper recycling infrastructures.

The criteria for this ecolabel are:

The product is made from at least 95% paper by weight

5% of a paper product’s weight is usually allowed to be another material. This threshold is different in each country, however we adopted the highest relevant threshold for our labeling to ensure the recyclability of our paper products across different markets.

The product’s coating if any, is water-soluble and applied on only one side

Coatings must allow the paper material to break down easily into single fibres during the recycling process.

The product’s adhesives if any, is either ‘water soluble´ or ‘shape retaining’

In order to prevent clogs in the recycling process, paper products should use adhesives that can be removed easily.

The product does not contain any Varnish

Varnishes are absorbed by paper fibers and cannot be separated during the recycling process, creating lower-quality recycled paper.

The product uses ink that is non-water soluble, non-heat sensitive and mineral free.

Proper ink choice ensures that the recycling process can produce minimally discolored recycled paper that can be used for many future applications.

The product contains no added plant materials (e.g. non-pulped materials from agricultural waste

Those materials have to be removed in the recycling process ? they are not separate cellulose fibres and are hard to recycle (however research has been started on the use of vegetable materials and thus new knowledge can perhaps be established soon). To be used as a wood fibre substitute they should be individual/separate cellulose fibres.

The criteria above are based on recycling guides from the KIDV, CEPI, CPI or Greenblue.

Recycled Content

Products with this ecolabel have been made partially or fully of previously recycled plastic or recycled paper. The percentage of recycled plastic content used in each product with this label is specified in the product’s properties descriptions (for more info about the use of recycled content check question "“Why do we use recycled content.”).

Bio-based

Products with this ecolabel have been made with more than 90% renewable materials. This includes materials like cotton or jute, and bio-based plastic. Paper products are also bio-based but they were excluded from this label as they have their own ecolabel (see ‘paper products’).

Bio-based plastic is made from plants (for example sugarcane or corn) instead of fossil fuels, reducing the need to extract and refine oil and the associated environmental impacts.

Products with this bio-based plastics ecolabel fall into two categories, depending on their end-of-life options:

• Drop-in bio-based plastics (e.g., bioPE, bioPP): they are made from plants, but they have the same properties as conventional plastics. For example, bioPE and bioPP work the same way as PE and PP. Therefore, they can be recycled –if the infrastructure in place allows for it (see ‘designed for recyclability’ for more details)– but they are NOT compostable.
• Compostable bio-based plastics (e.g., PLA): under specific conditions, these plastics can be turned into nutrient-rich compost. These plastics cannot be recycled in the plastic waste stream.

For more details about bioplastics, bio-based plastics, and compostability see FAQs.

Designed for (industrial) composting

Products with this label biodegrade under certain conditions depending on their respective materials: plastic, paper, or jute.

Plastic:

Plastic products with this ecolabel comply with the EU compostability standard EN-134321. This standard requires that:

• Packaging disintegrates within 12 weeks.
• At least 90% of the packaging biodegrades within 180 days in an industrial composter2.
• Approximately 10% of solid material will be left after 6 months (compost, biomass, and water).
• The resulting composted material will be free of toxins.

It is important to note that:

• Not all countries use composting processes that are suitable for compostable plastics. Many countries treat their organic waste in anaerobic digesters that are not suitable for compostable plastics. Compostable plastics with the EN-13432 require aerobic composters in the waste infrastructure in order to avoid being landfilled or incinerated. Check here if compostable plastics can or cannot be composted in your country.
• The EN-13432 does not ensure home compostability. Compostable plastics generally need the temperature and humidity conditions of industrial composters to biodegrade. Some products may explicitly specify that they are suited for home composting.
• Compostable plastics are not recyclable and can negatively impact the recycling facilities if they are incorrectly disposed of.

For more information on plastic biodegradation, compostability, and bioplastics see FAQs.

Paper:

Paper is naturally compostable as a wood-based material. However, recycling paper generally produces much more favorable sustainability impacts than composting. This ecolabel identifies paper products that are more well-suited for composting than recycling.

The criteria for this ecolabel are:

The product is made from 100% paper

The paper product is likely to come into contact with greasy food.

Grease and oils ruin paper’s recyclability. Paper packaging that is likely to come in contact with such contaminants (e.g. pizza boxes) are better suited for composting than recycling. Check here if your country accepts paper in the organic waste stream.

The product contains no toxic chemical additives

Jute:

Jute fibers are produced from plant cellulose (from the Corchorus plant) and lignin (a fibre from wood) and are naturally biodegradable. They decompose in the natural environment (in approximately 1-2 years), in home composters, industrial composters, and anaerobic digesters.

The criteria for this eco label are:

• The product is made from 100% jute or paper.
• The product contains no toxic chemical additives.

Not recyclable

Not all well designed packaging is recyclable. Some products are designed to meet certain technical capabilities that makes the packaging unrecyclable. We chose to include this ‘Not Recyclable’ among our other eco labels to be completely transparent and to build awareness of the recyclable products that may be suitable alternatives to products with this label. This label applies to both plastic and paper-based products.

Products with the ‘Not recyclable’ label:

• Products that can not be recycled with current recycling infrastructure and are also not compatible with the expected improvements to the recycling infrastructure.

If you are looking for products that are designed for recyclability, please check here.

Plastic:

A product is given the “Not Recyclable” label if it did not satisfy all the criteria of the ‘Designed for Recycling’ ecolabel. Please see the ‘Designed for Recycling’ explanation for a more in-depth explanation of the relevant criteria.

The criteria for this label are:

The product is made out of multiple materials.

Multi-material products can not yet be effectively separated during the recycling process. Products that mix layers of plastic with layers of metal such as aluminum are not recyclable at all, while mixed plastic products can only be recycled into low-quality recycled plastics.

The product is not made of LDPE or PP plastic

Recycling infrastructures need to sort plastics by type in order to create single-material, high-quality recycled plastic. Unfortunately, not all plastic materials have equal value in the recycling market. This means that only some plastics have a robustly developed recycling infrastructure to process them. Currently, LDPE has the most developed recycling infrastructure for flexible plastics while PP is the focus of much future investment. Other plastic materials are still largely lacking robust infrastructures that can create single-material, high-quality recycled plastic and are instead mixed into low-quality recycling streams.

The product color is carbon-black

Black colored products are not compatible with the Near Infrared Sorting Machines found in most recycling infrastructures. This leads to black colored products often being sorted out of the plastic recycling stream and being either landfilled or incinerated.

The product contains a rigid plastic component (e.g a hard spout on a pouch).

A mix of flexible and rigid plastics creates difficulties during the sortation step of the recycling process

The product is smaller than 5x5 cm.

Items smaller than 5x5cm are often discarded as waste during the sortation step of the recycling process, and will be landfilled or incinerated.

* The above criteria are based on the recyclability guides from the plastic recycling organizations RecyClass, CEFLEX, KIDV and APR. These guidelines explicitly address flexible plastics (e.g., pouches) as their considerations differ from those for rigid plastics.

Paper:

A product is given the “Not Recyclable” label if it did not satisfy all the criteria of the ‘Designed for Recycling-Paper’ ecolabel. If a product did not fit all the criteria for the ‘Designed for Recycling-Paper’ ecolabel,logo, it is labelled as ‘Not recyclable’. Please see the ‘Designed for Recycling-Paper’ explanation for a more in-depth explanation of the relevant criteria.

Criteria for this label are:

The product contains more than 5% of other (non-paper) materials

It is usually more efficient for paper recyclers to discard mixed material packaging than to attempt to separate the materials. In order to prevent paper packaging from being discarded and to ensure the optimum functioning of the paper recycling infrastructure, a maximum of 5% of a paper packaging product is allowed to be made of a non-paper material.

The product uses varnish

Varnishes are absorbed by paper fibers and cannot be separated during the recycling process, creating lower-quality recycled paper.

The product uses a coating that is either not water soluble or applied to both sides of a piece of paper.

Coatings must allow the paper material to break down easily into single fibres during the recycling process.

The product contains adhesives that are either ‘non water soluble´ or ‘shape retaining’.

In order to prevent clogs in the recycling process, paper products should use adhesives that can be removed easily.

The ink dissolves in water or is heat sensitive

Those kinds of inks should not be used since they can decolour the pulp and thus decrease the quality of the recycled paper.

The product contains added plant materials (e.g. non-pulped materials from agricultural waste)

Those materials have to be removed in the recycling process ? they are not separate cellulose fibres and are hard to recycle (however research has been started on the use of vegetable materials and thus new knowledge can perhaps be established soon). To be used as a wood fibre substitute they should be individual/separate cellulose fibres.

BovensThe criteria above are based on recycling guides from the KIDV, CEPI, CPI or Greenblue.