ecoloop – our certification program
The certification system itself operates by making use of relevant elements of various standards: EN ISO 14021:2016, TÜV SÜD CMS 71, EuCertPlast and RAL UZ 30a. It is a certification of products.
On a broad basis, ecoloop enables certification at various levels of the value chain, which documents the respective contribution to a circular economy and is intended to promote the use of waste-based plastics.
The general part deals with basic questions. The focus here is on the organization and documentation of the required information.
Any pre-existing certification can be valuable here.
In addition to the general part, the ecoloop certification program contains 3 different modules:
general part
This part is relevant for all companies applying for a product certificate.
General aspects of inspection
Checking whether certificates exist according to other standards, e.g. ISO 14001, ISO 9001, ISO 18001, EMAS, TÜV SÜD CMS 71, EuCertPlast or others
Management Team
Confirm the legal directors of requesting company. Check if an organigram is available and if the contact persons of the certification have the appropriate qualifications, declare the necessary information about the audited products.
Origin of the Incoming material
The system checks whether the origin of the incoming material can be traced. The details of the deliveries, such as purchasing quality, supplier, haulier must also be documented. It must be ensured that the quantities can be documented by means of calibrated scales. A process for monitoring the incoming materials relevant to this certification shall be documented. Monitoring shall be carried out for each delivery.
Stock Management
The details of the warehouse situation are recorded. The system checks whether an appropriate storage system exists to ensure that the incoming quantities to be considered can be assigned to the vendor. It is also checked whether the stock is being checked as part of regular inventories.
Subcontracting
If the applying company does not carry out all the process steps itself, it must be checked that the subcontractors also comply with all requirements of this certification. It must also be possible to identify which services were performed by the company itself and which were performed by subcontractors.
Environmental protection
A visual inspection is carried out to determine whether the production process can cause exceptional environmental pollution and what existing environmental protection measures are in place.
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module 1 – extend the loop
Extend loop refers to the use of plastic oil in the production of raw materials for the plastics industry. Fossil oils can be replaced by waste based plastic oils or pyrolysis oils in crackers. By means of a mass balance procedure, the plastic oils used can be assigned to the certified products.
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module 2 – open the loop
By open the loop we mean the production of regrinds or regranulates from plastic waste. These material processes are used to produce raw materials for various industrial sectors and thus replace conventional raw materials.
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module 3 – close the loop
“Close the loop” refers to the last production step that uses raw materials or products from modules 1 or 2 to manufacture its products (components) for the end consumer and can thus prove the use of plastic waste-based raw materials.
Aspects of inspection
This part of the requirements applies to all applicants for certification of their end products (or components) using raw materials certified according to the ecoloop.certification.program module 1 or module 2.
The share of waste-based plastics in the total plastic content of the product (or component) is ideally expressed as an absolute share. Since this will not be possible in all cases, there is also the possibility of specifying the waste-based plastic content with one of the following four classes:
1. share >5 < 25% = low proportion
2. share >25 < 50% = medium proportion
3. share >50 < 75% = high proportion
4. share >75 = very high proportion
Guarantee of origin and composition of the raw material used
Add details of the verified certificates (module 1 or module 2).
Origin of the waste-based raw material for the recycling process.
Plausibility checks of the product composition
testing period
raw materials as specified in the recipe
Verification of the purchase quantity of the waste-based raw materials used
Verification of the produced quantity of the product to be certified
Confirmation: delivered waste-based raw material ≥ quantity used in the product (or component)
Product (component) labelling
Material composition of the end product (component)
waste-based raw materials
additives
Plastic based on waste or based on fossil fuels
Colorants (Masterbatch)
printing inks
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With ecoloop, the participants at the various levels want to document their contribution to the recycling economy and thus create confidence in plastic waste-based products among end consumers.