“With this, hopefully the regionalism in the certification practice will soon come to an end”, Michael Scriba, Executive of the plastic recycling company mtm plastics from Niedergebra, welcomes the recently established certification standard EuCertPlast. Until now companies like mtm, who work with various domestic and foreign suppliers, had to allow themselves to be audited several times a year according to varying inspection requirements. The Europe-wide uniform certification system EuCertPlast should put an end to this costly and time-consuming practice. “In the future mtm will only be certified according to this standard which more than fulfils the German requirements”, announces Scriba. European plastic processing and repelletizer associations and companies, as well as operators of collection systems, reached an agreement in early July.The condition is that the certificate is accepted in all of Europe as proof of qualification for recycling operations as quickly as possible. Scriba also expects the new standard to bring an end to the previous distortions of the competition: “Although the inspection criteria are somewhat stricter than those of the German authorities, we see an advantage in this. If they are enforced, all competitors in Europe will compete at the same level.”
The certifications and audit system EuCertPlast, which started in July, applies
the existing CEN Standard 15343 to plastic recycling. All accredited inspectors can implement the new inspection procedure. With the uniform certification practice, the EuCertPlast partners, European Plastics Recyclers (EuPR), European Plastics Recycling Organisation (EPRO), European Plastics Converters (EuPC), European Association unoriented Polyester Films (EuPET) and Recovinyl want to give suppliers, and clients, the certainty that the plastic waste handled is being processed in accordance with the best industry practices, in an environmentally responsible manner, and in compliance with the standards. So, the “Blue Angel” eco-label will be a requirement for products made of recycled plastics beginning 2013.
