Labeling of Packaging

The accurate labeling for sustainable packaging.

Basic Principle

The environmental impact of packaging and packaging waste is to be reduced in Europe. To this end, regulation 94/62/EC was adopted for all EU member states. The law applies to all types of packaging and is the responsibility of the distributor of packaged goods. Thus, online retailers are also included. It is intended to encourage manufacturers and distributors to produce packaging from recyclable material. Packaging is everything that is used to protect and handle goods during delivery or presentation of the goods. It includes sales and secondary packaging, as well as transport and storage packaging that facilitates the handling of sales units.

What is it about in detail:

Affected are packaging materials that enter an EU country. Due to the regulation, these countries have the obligation to label each packaging with its material and to indicate how it will be utilized after use.
To identify the material used, packaging must always be marked with a recycling code. This is done for our corrugated board products with the code PAP 20, and for our solid board products with the code PAP 21. The application of the code can be done by an imprint or by perforation with Perfa-Type.
The 3 arrows symbol, the so-called Möbius loop, is usually used to indicate the packaging‘s recycling possibility (application after use). Since there are some recycling symbols in circulation, image use rights or copyrights must be observed. However, the regulation and the EU countries do not specify how the symbol must look in detail. It is only required that the marking is visible. However, the coding of the packaging with PAP 20 or PAP 21 is mandatory.

The Symbols of Model

Symbol 1

Resy

The lettering in the symbol indicates that the respective manufacturer has a license/right of use from the «RESY Organisation für Wertstoffentsorgung GmbH» and thus fulfills the requirements for taking back and recycling used transport and outer packaging made of paper, solid and corrugated board. With the use of lettering, the corresponding license number/identification number of the packaging manufacturer must be used. (1) | Resy.de

Symbol 2

Recycling Symbol

This general recycling symbol indicates the recirculation to the recycling loop. The three arrows represent the recycling circuit. (1)

Symbol 3

PAP 20 & PAP 21

The use of this symbol is subject to the packaging law and defines the packaging material. It serves the end user to identify the material and to return it to the correct recycling cycle. (1)

(1) PAP xx is the recycling code of paper and corrugated board. Numbers 20 to 39 are reserved for paper and cardboard. Currently, three codes are defined: PAP 20 - corrugated board, PAP 21 - other cardboard (solid board), PAP 22 - paper.

Responsibilities

You as a customer or as a distributor are responsible for the design and use of the code as well as the symbol of all your goods. In some countries, sufficient marking via the shipping documents is accepted, but this only applies to the packaging of B2B (Business-to-Business) relationships. For B2C (business-to-customer) and especially for mail-order businesses, it is mandatory that the above-mentioned features are affixed to the goods.