The German expert agency for packaging and waste management Cyclos (Osnabrück; www.cyclos.de) has developed a label specifically for products and packaging (food and non-food) made from post-consumer recyclate. It is intended to show consumers which products contain recycled plastics. The requirement is that the product’s value chain can be tracked without any gaps – from the starting material and composition of the regrind material to the new product. At present this is not always the case. Sandra Beckamp, head of the certifications business unit at Cyclos, predicts further stumbling blocks. She says, for example, that recycled plastics are only seldom considered when tenders are submitted.

The German company supports plastics converters who want to use the recyclate label. It first examines whether the prerequisites for the label have been met. If necessary, suitable procedures are implemented to trace the history of the recycled plastics. Cyclos also checks the use of certified recycled plastics according to the EU-wide certification “EuCertPlast” – see Plasteurope.com of 18.07.2012.

The company is an expert agency specialised in the disposal of packaging, batteries and E&E products. Among other things, it checks environmental labels and advocates the continuous tracking of recyclate.