Sustainable packaging with distinction – our new label "RECYCLABLE"!
Packaging is a modern all-rounder! They protect the product, make it optimally available and inform the consumer. In short, it is impossible to imagine our lives without them. However, packaging often only accompanies us for a short time and should be recycled as best as possible after use, because it contains valuable materials. In order to be able to use these resources and thus close the cycle of recyclable materials, it is essential to think about the recyclability of the material used as early as the packaging design stage and to ensure that the design is suitable for recycling. The reuse of used materials such as glass, paper or plastic extends the life cycle of the materials. Thus, through sustainable packaging design and with the help of the circular economy, the consumption of non-renewable raw materials can be reduced.
The "RECYCLABLE" label from the Green Dot:
- FOR PACKAGING WITH A RECYCLABILITY from 90%,
i.e. at least 90 % of the total weight of the materials used can be reused - CORRESPONDS TO THE CURRENT MINIMUM STANDARD "RECYCLABILITY" OF THE CENTRAL PACKAGING REGISTER
- RECYCLABILITY CERTIFIED BY THE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE CYCLOS-HTP
This means that the packaging must be collectable after use via the existing collection system for recyclable materials (e.g. yellow garbage can, yellow sack, recycling islands) and must be capable of qualified sorting in the available sorting facilities. In addition, it must be capable of being processed in such a way that recycling - e.g. the production of a high-quality recycled plastic such as our Systalen® - is possible.
The "recyclable" label is only certified and awarded to packaging that has been certified by the cyclos-HTP Institute as being at least 90% recyclable (https://www.cyclos-htp.de).
You can apply for the label regardless of whether you are a customer of Der Grüne Punkt - Duales System Deutschland GmbH or not. After successful certification, we will provide you with the "Recyclingfähig" label free of charge to apply to the packaging.
Please note: As recyclability always depends on the available national infrastructure, the label is currently only approved in Germany and Austria, hence there is only a German version available. However, it may in principal also be applied to multilingual packaging fulfilling the criteria for addressing customers in Germany and Austria.
Would you like to use the label on your packaging?
THE TESTING
For the assessment, the packaging to be evaluated passes through a reference process chain that realistically represents the existing recovery structures in the relevant stages of collection - sorting - recycling. For the respective packaging it is checked:
- Can it be collected in the existing infrastructure?
- Can it be identified in sorting plants according to the state of the art and assigned to a fraction?
- Can it be recycled on an industrial scale in a recycling plant?
- What is the recyclable content of the packaging available for recycling?
- Does the packaging contain recycling incompatibilities?
We refer to these reference process chains as "pathways." We currently distinguish between 13 paths; what they all have in common is that at the end of the process sequence a recyclate is produced that replaces material-identical virgin material.
The object of investigation or the object of the certified recyclability is the packaging as a whole (including labels, lids, sealing foils, etc. but without contents). The components of combination packaging are evaluated separately. This is the case if the components of the packaging typically arise separately during the use or consumption of the product (e.g. a frozen pizza in a film, in a folding box).
Further information can be found here: Assessment and certification of recyclability – Institute cyclos-HTP.
Our label creates transparency and shows end consumers* that the packaging in question has been designed for recycling – now it's up to you to separate the packaging correctly.
OUR PARTNER INSTITUTE:
The cyclos-HTP institute was founded in May 2014 as a company for the classification, assessment and testing of the recyclability of packaging and goods, as well as research and development in this field, based in Aachen, Germany. The partners of the institute are the shareholders of cyclos GmbH and the shareholders of the engineering company HTP GmbH & Co. KG. Managing directors of the institute are Sandra Beckamp and Dr.-Ing. Joachim Christiani, one of the leading experts in the field of sorting and recycling technology in Europe.
