Secondary and/or tertiary packaging made from plastic that is used under the contract shall be designed for recycling. Plastic packaging and closures shall comply with at least the following:
Plastic packaging1 and any plastic closures2 shall be manufactured as a mono-material3 from one of the following plastics or as separable4 components thereof:
- Polyethylene (PE)
- Polypropylene (PP)
- Clear polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
Metallic parts shall not be used in the packaging,1 closure2 or label.
Plastic packaging shall not be dyed using carbon black
Plastic packaging shall not have printing that covers more than 60% of its surface.
Labels
Labels on plastic packaging shall meet one of the following twp requirements:
- Labels shall be made from the same material as the packaging.
- If the packaging is made from PET, the label shall be made from PP or PE.
Labels shall be able to be washed away according to following:
- Packaging of PE and PP shall have labels woth water soluable adhesive glue, which can be washed away at temperatures below 60°C.
- Packaging of PET shall have labels possible to washed away with a basic solution at temperatures below 70 °C.
Labels shall not cover more than 60% of the surface of the packaging.
Exception: Any seals or sealing wads5 present are excepted on the condition that they are easily separable3 from the packaging and the closure.
1Plastic packaging includes rigid and flexible packaging, such as pots, bags, trays, wrappings, or similar.
2Closures include bottle caps, lids, bag sealer, cable ties, or similar.
3Mono-materials are plastics whose composition consists of a single type of plastic polymer, such as polyethylene.
4Separable components include elements of the packaging that can be easily taken apart by the end user without the need of tools before being recycled. Note, too, that an EVOH barrier in a fraction of up to 2% of PE can be accepted and is not considered to be a multi-layer material because it is compatible with existing recycling processes.
