Following two years of collaborative efforts on the part of plastics processors, recyclers and collectors, the industry has agreed to launch EuCertPlast, a new European-wide certification and audit scheme that implements the existing CEN standard 14343 on post-consumer plastics recycling. The scheme will award qualified recyclers with an EuCertPlast certificate that indicates that they work according to the highest operational and environmental standards, assuring consumers that they are buying eco-friendly products.

The project was carried out by the European Plastics Recyclers Association (EuPR, Brussels / Belgium; www.eupr.org) and the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations (EPRO, Brussels / Belgium; www.epro-plasticsrecycling.org) in association with the European Plastics Converters Association (EuPC, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsconverters.eu), the European Association for Unoriented Polyester-Films (EuPET, Frankfurt / Germany; www.eupet.org), Recovinyl (Brussels / Belgium; www.recovinyl.com) as well as a select few recycling companies, including cyclos (Osnabrück / Germany; www.cyclos.de). Several recycling companies are already performing the first pilot audits at factory level, the groups said.

The new scheme creates a level playing field for European plastics recyclers, said EuPR president Ton Emans, adding that EuCertPlast is audited according to the best available German scheme, contributing to more potential for higher plastics recycling targets on the continent. EPRO co-chairman Francis Huysman said Italy’s plastics recovery organization Corepla (Milan; www.corepla.it) had already announced plans to base the regulatory compliance of its recyclers on the new standard, adding that he was confident others would follow the example.