Standards Development

Scope

Preliminary scope (subjected to changes)

This document describes a laboratory scale method for determining the key parameters for evaluating the level of recyclability of paper and board-based materials and other cellulose fibre-based products, e.g. moulded fibre products, emulating the relevant phases of standard paper and board recycling mills without deinking technology or other special features to recycle paper for producing new paper and board.

This document considers only the minimum characteristics of paper and board that can be generally recycled. Therefore, it does not take into consideration additional specifications necessary to valorise the paper and board for recycling using deinking technologies. It also does not include parameters of recyclability in mills with specialised processing technology. 

Purpose

According to the latest published CEPI (Confederation of European Paper Industries) statistics, in 2021, 71.4% of all paper and board consumed in Europe was recycled.

Both consumption of new paper and board and collection of Paper for Recycling (PfR) have increased. The total amount of paper and board collected and recycled in the paper sector in 2021 was 57.1 million tonnes. Several laboratory recyclability testing methods already exist in different European countries since years and are used to assess papers and boards which are intended to be recycled. All these methods simulate the main process steps of a recycling plant, which are pulping and cleaning (with or without flotation step), and sheet making.

Recently, an attempt has been made to come to a common laboratory testing method within European countries. The principle of the method is still to simulate the common operating conditions of key process steps in an industrial recycling plant under standard conditions in a laboratory scale pulping and cleaning devices.

This proposed preliminary new work item is based on the CEPI recyclability laboratory test method, version 2, October 2022. A draft proposal is enclosed in annex (document CEN/TC172/WG2/N221)