Centexbel-VKC, the Belgian competence centre of plastics and textile, and the Belgian Quality Association (BQA) established a consortium PolyCert Europe in partnership with the industry associations ECRA, EuPC and ESWA.
The objective of the consortium is to set up a EU-level third party quality compliance scheme for converters of polymeric materials and to harmonize the methodology for calculation of recycled content used by existing certification schemes in Europe. Such harmonization is much needed to ensure compliance with the relevant standards and regulations and to stimulate circular economy.
PolyCert Europe compliance scheme will help companies to verify the compliance with quality standards and to ensure their products live up to customer specifications regardless of whether they use virgin polymers or recycled polymers. At the same time, the objective is to provide converters with a quality certification and verification of recycled content in converted products.
PolyCert Europe has been established to form an umbrella compliance scheme setting an international standard. It is complementary to and aims at harmonizing the existing certification schemes (e.g. Plastica Seconda Vita, RAL, AENOR, etc.).
The PolyCert Europe compliance scheme is based on the principles of third-party auditing. Such auditing work must by definition be done by an auditing system based on a network of accreditation certification bodies and independent auditors to ensure impartiality and credibility. The European network of accredited certification bodies will ensure a harmonized implementation of the PolyCert Europe scheme across Europe.
The consortium of partners is open to any interested stakeholders being it national or sector plastic converters associations. If your organization is interested in joining PolyCert Europe, please contact us on info@polycerteurope.eu.
Source: PolyCert Europe
