Legislation & Certification

Is your business taking responsibility for its plastics impact? Do you have a robust process in place to back up your claims around plastics?
With pressure to reduce plastic usage coming from both consumers and governments, a certification against a trusted plastics standard is of great value to businesses. Now more than ever companies need to prove the ways in which they are recycling, cutting the use of plastic and adopting alternative, compostable, materials through a credible certification process. This presentation will give an insight into which plastic-related certifications are available, the benefits of having a certification and basic procedures of certifications to move towards more sustainable and transparent supply chains. The presentation will give an outline on the below innitiatives that support solving the global plastic problem:
•    Verra Plastic Waste Reduction Standard (plastic credits)
•    RecyClass (plastic recycling and recyclability of plastic credits)
•    Plastic Free Standard (Labeling of products that do not contain plastic)
•    Global Recycle Standard (Tracking and verifying the content of recycled materials)
•    Ocean Bound Plastic Standard (Supporting the prevention of ocean plastic)
•    ISCC-Plus (Providing assurance about the sustainable content of packaging)
•    ZNU
•    Grüner Knopf

The use of resources in a circular economy is currently only partially addressed by standards/regulations. One example is the plastic packaging industry where the recycling rate of plastic packaging waste is 40,6% (2019). And the ambitious goal of the European Commission with the review of the packaging and packaging waste directive to ensure that by 2030 all packaging on the EU market is reusable or recyclable in an economically viable way. TÜV SÜD and a waste management partner will go through a status of current challenges around local recyclability, status of standardization, how companies' statements about the recyclability of their products be transparent, reliable, and verified and available for the digital product passport in the future.