The Generalitat Valenciana is helping FEDEMCO, the Spanish Federation of Wooden Packaging and its Components, expand its certification mark verifying the eco-design and recyclability of wooden packaging throughout Europe.
A pack with ECOWOOX certification is recognized as 100% recyclable. It is thought to be ‘high-quality waste’ that can be repurposed into other wooden materials at end-of-life – therefore avoiding early recovery, extending the carbon cycle, and achieving circularity for the product.
The certification is set to inform suppliers, manufacturers, packers, distributors, consumers, and recyclers alike that the packaging in question – whether made of solid wood, fibreboard, plywood, or a mixture of those materials – is recyclable.
Suitable for sales, commercial, and industrial packing made of wood, ECOWOOX is designed to align with national and European standards for packaging and packaging waste – namely the basic requirements for the manufacture and composition of recyclable, reusable, or energy-recoverable packaging. It is based on European standards UNE-EN 13427, UNE-EN 13428, UNE-EN 13429, UNE-EN 13430, and UNE-EN 13431.
AIDIMME, the Metalworking, Furniture, Wood, Packaging and Related Technological Institute, has verified process of obtaining ECOWOOX certification; it manages and helps applicants through the process. It also serves as a technological partner to the certification’s Quality Commission, constituting wood panel manufacturers and other industry players.
Apparently, 80% of wooden fruit and vegetable packaging in the Iberian Peninsula has been certified under ECOWOOX since the certification was revealed last year. It has also initiated certification processes for wine cases, reels, and wooden pallets.
FEDEMCO hopes that the certification will help the packaging industry utilize wood waste more efficiently. Vice president Arthur Vélez has presented the certification mark in Brussels.
In other news, CERREC – said to be the ‘first and only’ certification mark for recyclable cardboard and paper packaging – was launched in 2023 and intends to combat misleading environmental claims and ‘greenwashing’ in the packaging sector. It is set to conduct randomized recyclability testing to verify companies’ on-pack sustainability claims and provide an instant link to product information via QR code.
EUROPEN, ACE, CEPI, and others also support the introduction of a “simplified procedure” for environmental certification under the EU’s Green Claims Directive; this would streamline the verification process for claims based on recognized methodologies, as well as those that do not require a full life cycle assessment.
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