As the quantity of recycling increases, a high quality of recycling is necessary to ensure that secondary raw materials produced are suitable for use in product applications with more demanding requirements, enabling a more circular economy. Defining the concept of “quality of recycling” is the starting point for any assessment of what is meant by ‘high quality’. This study develops an operational definition of “quality of recycling”, defined as the extent to which, through the recycling chain, the distinct characteristics of the material used within products are preserved or recovered to maximise their potential to be used as secondary raw materials in the circular economy. To enable assessments of quality, the study proposes a set of quality categories for common packaging materials (glass, papers, PET, and HDPE/PP), based on key characteristics of secondary raw materials and sorted packaging outputs that differentiate their suitability for use in manufacturing different types of products.
The definition of quality of recycling and the accompanying framework for quality assessments can be used by a range of organisations to understand the current quality of recycling outputs and track progress towards improving the quality of recycling at the level of an individual plant or a whole recycling chain.
Grant, A., Cordle, M. and Bridgwater, E., Quality of Recycling - Towards an operational definition, Canfora, P., Dri, M., Antonopoulos, I. and Gaudillat, P. editor(s), Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2020, ISBN 978-92-76-25426-3, doi:10.2760/225236, JRC122293.
2020-11-17
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC122293
978-92-76-25426-3 (online)
OP KJ-03-20-775-EN-N (online)
