The European Commission has published a methodology to calculate, verify, and report chemically recycled content in single-use PET beverage bottles – intending to level the playing field and ensure investment security for the plastics recycling sector.
In its latest implementing decision, the Commission instructs economic operators to calculate the total weight of plastic, both recycled and non-recycled, in PET bottles placed on their Member State’s national markets in a given year.
The weight of recycled plastic in a PET bottle must be calculated at the point when it is placed on the market, based on the data obtained at calculation points for each of its parts. Operators may adjust the calculated weight of virgin or recycled plastic in their PET bottles to account for exports or movements of PET bottles to other Member States.
To work out the proportion of recycled plastic content in PET bottles, operators must divide the weight of recycled plastic in bottles placed on a Member State’s market in a given year by the weight of the non-recycled plastic placed on the same market in the same year. The ratio should be expressed as a percentage.
If a component consists only of post-consumer plastic waste obtained via a recycling technology that complies with Regulation (EU) 2022/1616’s rules on food-contact plastic recyclate, the percentage of recycled plastic should be multiplied by the weight of the respective bottle part.
Economic operators are also required to calculate the weight of eligible material in their plastic bottles. Calculation points must be established whenever the physical or chemical composition of a material sourced wholly or partly from post-consumer plastic waste is changed, including any mixing with other materials.
If the proportions of eligible materials are known at the time of a calculation point and no mass balance accounting has previously been applied, economic operators should work out the weight of eligible materials by multiplying the percentage by the weight of the batch. Otherwise, mass balance accounting should be used.
Member States must use all this data to calculate the total weight of virgin and recycled plastic in PET bottles placed on the market annually, as well as the yearly proportion of recycled plastics used in PET bottles.
Additionally, plastic suppliers must provide a declaration of the recycled content present in each batch of material they sell to customers. Economic operators are required to keep these declarations for at least five years, and may use supplier information instead of generating their own declarations if the material’s physical or chemical composition is not altered within that time.
Member States must verify the data following a risk-based approach, regardless of whether the post-consumer plastic waste was generated or recycled in their country or overseas.
In an initial phase, only plastic recyclate from EU Member States and European Economic Area (EEA) countries will count; this is set to ensure that compliance with the EU’s environmental rules can be fully verified. Recyclate from OECD countries will count from 21 November 2027, unless excluded under the Waste Shipment Regulation.
Material from non-OECD countries will also count when covered by arrangements ensuring equivalent standards related to human health and environmental protection requirements – for example, in the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation and the Waste Framework Directive.
The methodology comes under the Commission’s plastics package, as announced in December 2025. It is anticipated to ensure transparency for recycled content in plastic bottles, create a level playing field for market operators, and help Member States meet the Single-Use Plastics Directive’s recycled content targets.
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