German plastic processor Pöppelmann Teku has become the first company to receive RAL quality label for the use of recycled materials in its products.
The RAL Quality Association for Recycled Materials from Household Waste Recycling e.V. approved the plant pots of the Pöppelmann Blue series with its new “recycled plastic” quality mark in October last year, said Pöppelmann on 18 Feb.
The blue pots are produced using Systalen, a recycled plastic material by German dual system packaging recovery company Der Grüne Punkt, or the Green Dot.
The material is produced from plastic waste collected through the Green Dot's yellow bins, which collect any sort of plastic waste.
To earn the label, Pöppelmann has had to demonstrate that it uses recycled material from the dual system throughout its pots' production process, according to Benjamin Kampmann of Pöppelmann innovation management team.
Compliance with the criteria of the label will be reviewed annually.
The household waste recycling association was launched by the Green Dot and its partners last year, and voluntarily commits to the quality and test regulations recognised by the renowned RAL Institute.
Pöppelmann developed the ‘blue series' of plant pots as part of its Pöppelmann Blue initiative, which offers a platform for developing concepts that can close the plastic waste loop.
The company is currently working on products and solutions which use post-consumer PET and re-usable carrying trays.
“We are convinced that consumers' attitudes must change continuously: plastic is neither waste nor fundamentally a bad material. Plastic is a valuable raw material, which can be reused perfectly and which we have to treat responsibly,' said Pöppelmann Teku sales manager Arno Zerhusen commenting on the product.
Pöppelmann Teku is part of the Lohne-headquartered Pöppelmann Group and manufactures products for commercial horticulture.