“Recycled”, printed on a datasheet, isn’t enough. When a buyer receives a batch of recycled material, the question that matters isn’t “is it recycled?” but “can you prove what it is — batch after batch?”. Qualifying a batch means lining up four things that hold together: the stream it comes from, the consistency between one batch and the next, the documentation that travels with it, and the traceability that ties everything back to the source. Let’s take them in turn.
1. The stream: it all starts with where the material comes from
A recycled material is only as good as the stream behind it. Before any numbers, what counts is knowing which process the scrap comes from, whether the source is stable and repeatable, and what kind of scrap it is. Post-industrial (PIR) material — production scrap recovered upstream, clean and homogeneous — can be qualified precisely; a heterogeneous, shifting stream cannot, however much you analyse it downstream. One clarification we always make: PIR is not “closed-loop”. They are two different things, and confusing them is the first mistake of anyone selling recycled material without really knowing it.
2. Batch-to-batch consistency
Recycled must not mean “variable by definition”. The quality of a recycled material is measured by its consistency within declared limits, batch after batch: same origin, same process, properties kept under control — melt flow index, hardness, colour, contaminants. A serious supplier doesn’t promise that every batch is identical to the gram; it guarantees that every batch stays within a declared, verifiable specification. It is that promise, kept over time, that lets a customer design and produce without surprises.
3. Documentation
Around the batch sits the paperwork that makes it genuinely usable: the technical data sheet, the recycled-content declaration, the certification — for GIANECO, CSI Plastica Riciclata (certified recycled content) — and, often overlooked, the correct legal status of the material. And this is where the most important, least understood distinction comes in (see below).
4. Traceability: the heart of qualification
Traceability is what holds stream, consistency and documents together. At GIANECO it is complete: not only per batch, but for every single big bag.
The difference is concrete. Tracing “per batch” can mean tying tens of tonnes of material to a single label; tracing per big bag means every bag is traceable to its origin and its route. If a value falls outside the limits, you go back to the individual container, not to a generic batch. It is the difference between “we roughly know where it comes from” and “we know exactly where it comes from, bag by bag” — and in the event of an audit, a dispute or a recall, that is everything.
5. By-product or End of Waste: two different traceability chains
Not all “recycled material” has the same legal status, and traceability changes accordingly. The EU Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) — implemented in Italy through the Environmental Code (Legislative Decree 152/2006) — sets out two distinct routes.
By-product — Art. 5 WFD (Art. 184-bis in Italy). This is a production residue that was never waste, provided it meets four conditions at the same time: it arises as an integral part of a production process whose primary aim is not to produce it; its further use is certain; it can be used directly, without any processing beyond normal industrial practice; and its use is lawful — compliant with the relevant product, health and environmental requirements. A by-product lives in the product world from the start: its traceability documents the process of origin and its conformity, and it travels with commercial documentation, not with waste paperwork.
End of Waste — Art. 6 WFD (Art. 184-ter in Italy). Here the path is the opposite: the material was waste, has undergone an authorised recovery operation and only ceases to be waste if it meets specific criteria — it is used for specific purposes, a market or demand exists, it complies with the technical requirements and product standards in force, and its use causes no overall adverse effects on the environment or human health. Traceability must therefore document a different journey: the waste origin (EWC/waste code), the recovery operation and its authorisation, and the End-of-Waste criteria met, with a declaration of conformity accompanying each supply. (A note on terms: the older label “secondary raw material” has, in legal terms, been replaced by the concept of a material that “ceases to be waste” — End of Waste. In commercial language the two still coexist.)
Why does it matter to the buyer? Because the two regimes are not interchangeable: different documents, different guarantees, different responsibilities along the chain. A supplier that can tell the two routes apart and document them correctly is one you can build on; a supplier that only says “it’s recycled” leaves the risk in your hands. GIANECO keeps the two cases distinct and documents both — with the same fine-grained traceability.
In short
Qualifying a batch of recycled material isn’t a rubber stamp: it’s the sum of a clear stream, a declared and verifiable consistency, complete documentation and a traceability that reaches the single big bag — with the correct legal status. That is exactly what separates a certified recycled material from “recycled” written on a label. And it’s the work behind every one of our supplies.
Need the technical data sheet or the CSI Plastica Riciclata recycled-content declaration for a grade? Get in touch: Contact us.
