Global Recycled Standard Certification (GRS)

 

What is Global Recycled Standard GRS?

The Global Recycled Standard was originally developed in 2008 for the textile industry as a voluntary certification. The certification serves as a proof of recycled content in products such as textiles. Due to new legislation in the plastics industry, it has become increasingly important for brands and companies to demonstrate the amount of recycled plastic content in plastic products. For this reason, the GRS standard has been extended from the certification of textile products to plastic products and plastic pre-products.

The standard is the responsibility of Textile Exchange. Certification is carried out by independent certifiers such as Control Union or Intertek.

It not only covers evidence of recycled material content in products through a traceable supply chain, but also includes social and environmental standards, in terms of manufacturing processes and the use of chemicals.

What does Global Recycled Standard GRS certified mean?

Companies in the plastics industry can become GRS certified if they either recycle plastic or use recycled plastic in their products. The certification is considered proof of the proportion of recycled plastic content in products. This usually involves mainly plastics from Post Consumer Recycling PCR, but certification for recycled plastic from Post Industrial Recycling PIR is also possible.

How does the traceable supply chain work in the Global Recycled Standard GRS?

The Global Recycled Standard starts at the beginning of the production chain - the recycling companies. It is not just the company that is certified, but each batch of recycled goods that is produced. These certified batches are passed on to the customer, usually a producer of primary products, together with the certification via a so-called Transaction Declaration TC. The TC serves as proof of the quantity of recycled raw materials that the producer has obtained from the recycling company.

The manufactured primary products may not declare more recycled content as GRS than the amount of recycled raw materials purchased by the producer. This is thus continued throughout the entire value chain by TCs. Any company that wants to open a TC itself must first have its production facility GRS certified and purchase raw material with GRS certified recycled content.

Who should get Global Recycled Standard GRS certified?

In general, companies in the plastics and textile industries can get certified on a voluntary basis. The certification is carried out by independent third parties and serves primarily as proof to consumers and governments that the declared recycled material is actually contained in the products.

Thus, the standard primarily serves to comply with applicable legislation and to limit green-washing. Companies for which this is relevant should consider certification or procure GRS certified recycled material from suppliers.

 

The recyclates you find on our website all have GRS certification. We source these worldwide and deliver them DDP free to your plant.