European Plastics Firms Unveil Plan to Boost Recycling

A group of European plastics converters, recyclers and collectors have completed a two-year project that looks at steps that can be taken to boost the use of post-consumer plastic scrap.

The culmination of the project is the release of a new program, called EuCertPlast, which implements existing CEN standard 14343 on post-consumer plastics recycling. Participants in the program say that the new standard will boost the use of post-consumer plastic.

The project was conducted by European Plastics Recyclers (EuPR) and the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations (EPRO) in collaboration with the European Plastics Converters (EuPC), the European Association unoriented Polyester Films (EuPET), Recovinyl, the German company Cyclos GmbH and a few plastics recycling companies to perform the first pilot audits at factory level.

“I am very happy with the outcome of this project in which we have been able to demonstrate that good practices on post-consumer plastics recycling should be rewarded with a European Certificate and this will boost the use of recyclates in Europe by plastics converters. I strongly advise purchasers of post-consumer plastics recyclates to request this EuCertPlast Certificate from their suppliers in order to guarantee good quality product,” says Alexandre Dangis, managing director of EuPC.

“Converters are ready to use more post-consumer plastics recyclates and this European certification scheme will contribute to more potential for higher plastics recycling targets in Europe. Additionally, the Blue Angel scheme will implement EuCertPlast as from 2013. Thus, consumer will have the assurance of buying eco-friendly products,” Dangis adds.

Ton Emans, president of the EuPR, says, “A suitable harmonized auditing scheme for Europe was needed due to the difficulty in gaining access to plastics waste from the different and often complex national systems. Now, with EuCertPlast, a level playing field has been created and plastics recyclers can work with all national collection schemes to get access to raw materials for further treatment in Europe. This is a major step forward for our young industry, and we are keen to develop more plastics recycling activities and create more employment. The quality of EuCertPlast is based on existing European Standards and audited according to the best available “German” auditor scheme.

“I would like to thank in particular Cyclos GmbH for having accepted to work with us in this project. The procedure to accredit new auditors has now started and will enable to have a good and standardized pool of EuCertPlast auditors," he adds.

Francis Huysman, co-chairman of the EPRO, says, “EPRO is pleased to have taken a key role in the development of this European wide auditing scheme. It will enable our members, which include some of the largest plastics recovery organizations in Europe, to have confidence that recyclers holding this certification will process their plastics to the highest possible operational and environmental standards. COREPLA, the Italian plastics recovery organization, has already announced that it intends to base the regulatory compliance of its recyclers on the EuCertPlast standard, and I am confident that other schemes will also take this approach. Our members look forward to working in partnership with EuCertPlast certified recyclers to increase the levels of plastics recovery and recycling in Europe still further.”

Eric Criel, Recovinyl general manager, says, “EuCertPlast will enable Recovinyl to precisely assess the quantity and tractability of the material recycled within the VinylPlus voluntary agreement. Furthermore, we’ll also get the guarantee that the recycling phase occurred in an environmental sound manner.”