Stricter Verification For Recycled Content, Green Claim Crackdown Sweeps Plastic Packaging Sector

For a long time, there has been widespread disorder in green marketing. Some packaging suppliers mix PIR industrial offcuts into post-consumer PCR recycled materials, or even use brand-new virgin plastic to falsely advertise high percentages of recycled content. Downstream brands struggled to verify authenticity when manufacturers only provided self-written statements. With the implementation of national standards for recycled plastic identification in China, together with the mandatory traceability requirements for PCR materials under the EU PPWR regulation, simple written declarations no longer meet compliance requirements. Complete raw material traceability documents and third-party test reports are required for product promotion and overseas declarations.

The core focus of this round of supervision is to distinguish industrial scrap materials from post-consumer recycled materials. Under current standards, membrane trimmings generated during industrial production do not count as PCR post-consumer recycled materials recognized by PPWR and cannot be included in recycled content indicators for export packaging. Many packaging companies fall into this trap by confusing the two types of materials, leading to rejected export documents, invalid ESG reports for brand clients, and even penalties for false advertising.

Detection technology is also being upgraded. Combined testing methods including infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis can accurately determine the real proportion of recycled materials and identify adulteration. Data from multiple domestic testing institutions shows that over 30% of food-grade flexible plastic packaging samples submitted for inspection in the past two months have mismatches between labeled recycled content and actual measured values.

For plastic packaging manufacturers, the short-term priority is to self-inspect existing recycled material orders and organize procurement vouchers and origin certificates for recycled feedstock. In the long run, enterprises need to build complete traceability ledgers and require raw material suppliers to provide compliance test documents at the procurement stage. Brand purchasers also need to adjust procurement logic, focusing not only on quotations but preferring packaging factories with full traceability systems. This prevents brands from bearing associated compliance risks caused by raw material fraud from upstream suppliers. Against the backdrop of global green procurement, the authenticity of recycled materials will become one of the core competitive strengths of packaging enterprises.