GB/T 46018.1-2025Plastics — Technical specification for evaluation of recycled plastic products — Part 1: Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) materials (English PDF)

3.1 mechanical recycling

Process of converting waste plastics into secondary raw materials or products through operations such as sorting, shredding, washing, or melt extrusion and pelletizing, during which the chemical structure of the material does not undergo significant changes.

[Source. GB/T 45090-2024, 3.2]

3.2 traceability

Ability to trace the history, application, or location of an object.

Note. When considering products or services, traceability involves.

-- the source of raw materials and components; -- the history of processing;

-- the distribution and location of the product or service after delivery.

[Source. GB/T 19000-2016, 3.6.13]

4.1 Evaluation principles

4.1.1 Principle of “life cycle thinking”

Starting from the life cycle stages of PET plastic material recycling and regeneration, CONSIDER factors such as energy consumption and environmental impacts, quality control, process management, and traceability information at different stages;

ESTABLISH an evaluation index system by selecting indicators that can represent the main characteristics of recycling and regeneration and can be quantified or verified through testing.

4.1.2 Principle of “applicability” and “guidance”

The “applicability” indicator is established in consideration of the actual development level of the recycled plastics in China, which conforms to domestic industry specifications for recycled plastics and considers advanced international indicator requirements to meet internationalization needs, and maintains coordination and consistency with GB/T 40006 (all parts). At the same time, it plays a guiding role in promoting the high-quality recycling and application of waste plastics in China, balancing applicability and guidance.

4.2 Evaluation contents

4.2.1 The evaluation of PET (REC) plastic materials is a process of reflecting the overall performance of PET (REC) plastic materials by selecting evaluation indicators for PET plastics from the recycling stage to the regeneration stage, obtaining the corresponding data, and assigning graded scores to the indicators.

4.2.2 The evaluation requirements consist of basic requirements and evaluation

indicator requirements. The basic requirements include the environmental protection regulations, safety requirements, and management system requirements to be met by enterprises engaged in the recycling and regeneration of PET materials. The evaluation indicator requirements include the following aspects.

-- Environmental and energy evaluation, including comprehensive electricity consumption per item, freshwater consumption per item, energy management system certification, and carbon emission factor evaluation;

-- Quality evaluation, including general properties, restricted hazardous substances, odor rating, radioactivity requirements, and stability factor evaluation;

-- Process management evaluation, including factor evaluation of the recycling process and the regeneration process;

-- Traceability evaluation, including traceability of the recycling process, traceability of the regeneration process, characterization and identification of recycled products, intended applications, and certification factor evaluation;

-- Evaluation of enterprise scientific and technological innovation capability, including factor evaluation of core technology research and development capability, scientific and technological achievement commercialization capability, and digitalization enhancement capability.

4.3 Evaluation method

The weighted comprehensive evaluation method shall be adopted. In accordance with the evaluation indicator requirements specified in Chapter 5, the evaluator shall collect the data and supporting evidence corresponding to the requirements for the evaluation benchmark values given in Table 1, assign a score to each indicator, and calculate the indicator scores based on the scoring results and weighting factors to obtain the evaluation result.

5.1 Requirements for evaluation indicators

The evaluation indicators consist of 6 primary indicators and 22 secondary indicators.

The primary indicators include basic requirements, environmental and energy ......