Recyclability
Recyclability concerns the extent to which packaging or a disposable unit can be processed by the current system of
collecting, sorting, and recycling, and how the raw material can be reused. Packaging can be non-recyclable, poorly
recyclable, moderately recyclable or highly recyclable. It is an assessment of the disposable unit that looks at how likely it is that the packaging will have an optimal passage through the recycling process, looking at the specific design of that disposable unit. A disposable unit can be assessed using the Recycle Check. As a basis for that assessment, the following definition is used.
Packaging must meet four basic criteria to be deemed recyclable:
- The disposable unit must be made in such a way that it can be collected or picked up by approved waste collectors.
- The disposable unit must be sorted and/or bundled into pre-defined streams for recycling processes.
- During the recycling process, the material* is processed on an industrial scale** and is reclaimed into a raw material.
- Recovered raw material has a uniform composition*** and is used to produce new packaging or products.
* Depending on the material of the main component in the disposable unit, the amount of target material that can be recovered has to be above a certain minimum for the recycling process to make packaging highly recyclable, which is determined for each Recycle Check.
** Industrial scale means that more than half of the disposable units entering the market end up at recyclers and there is sufficient recycling capacity to recycle the sorted material within Europe.
*** Uniform composition means that the recyclate offers predictable and consistent quality as a new raw material and is used in a new product or packaging.
Categories of recyclability
In the checklist, we distinguish between highly recyclable, moderately and poorly recyclable, or even non-recyclable
packaging. The lowest score has the greatest weighting in determining the overall score. The coloured borders designate
the following categories:
- Non-recyclable: This qualification is used for packaging that contains a disruptor, i.e. materials that severely disrupt the recycling process and lead to the material stream being rejected.
- Limited recyclable: Packaging that cannot be easily recycled because it, for example, ends up in the mixed stream (a mixture of various kinds of materials) after sorting. The material remaining after recycling has limited applications, because it contains components that (severely) disrupt recycling and are difficult to remove.
- Reasonable recyclable: Packaging that requires an additional processing step before it can be classified as 'highly recyclable'. While this type of packaging does end up with the recycler as a homogeneous stream, there is something in its composition that somewhat
affects the quality of the recyclate or the effectiveness of the process. - Optimal recyclable: All properties of this type of packaging are optimally suited for recycling, making it 'highly recyclable' according to the aforementioned definition from the Recycle Check
