As the first company to do so, Dow has obtained UNE-EN 15343 for plastics recycling traceability and recycled content, the company has announced. The certification, awarded by Spain-based conformity assessment leader Aenor, applies to the company’s post-consumer waste-based, mechanically recycled Revoloop PE compounds and covers all three grades offered by Dow in Europe.
European Standard UNE-EN 15343 specifies the procedures needed for the traceability of recycled plastics. This gives the basis for the calculation procedure for the recycled content of a product, enabling producers to use the recycled materials with confidence.
Aenor has verified that Dow’s polyethylene compounds contain up to 70% of post-consumer recycled products; the company is now the 'first company to obtain this certification for polyethylene compounds’, said Yolanda Villaseñor, Director of Product Certification at Aenor.
Dow’s Revoloop grades are part of the company’s plastics circularity portfolio and incorporate a high percentage of post-consumer recycled (PCR) material. These compounds represent a ‘tangible step towards realizing our vision for a circular plastics economy’, said Peter Sandkuehler, European Sustainability Director for P&SP.
“It exemplifies Dow’s efforts around the world to enable mechanical recycling and the incorporation of PCR in a variety of technologically demanding applications.”
A full independent, external audit was conducted by Aenor to ensure that the control of incoming plastics waste, the traceability in the production processes of recycled material and the percentage of post-consumer recycled material included in the certified products comply with the requirements set out in UNE-EN 15343 standard.
First, the origin of the post-consumer recycled material was checked. Then, the main processes applied by the organisation in the manufacture of the products in the scope of the certification were analysed, with special emphasis on the control of the equipment that fixes the dosages during the manufacturing process. Finally, the calculation protocol applied by the organisation to determine the percentage of recycled material incorporated into the products was audited, verifying that it provides the necessary confidence, by means of periodic controls, so that the products marketed over time effectively contain the minimum declared.