Whenever you purchase a product that touts its recycled content material, you may even see phrases like “30% pre-consumer recycled content material” or “50% PCR” or “made out of post-industrial recycled content material.” What do all these phrases imply? Let’s talk about the distinction between pre-consumer, post-industrial and post-consumer recycled.

The distinction in these phrases mainly comes down to 1 issue: The place does the recycled materials come from? Some supplies have really been used out on the earth a minimum of as soon as after which are returned to be processed into one thing new. That’s the kind of recycling most of us consider. However producers additionally recycle materials from their very own amenities that has by no means made it to the patron, like scraps of plastic left over after merchandise have been lower, printed supplies that didn’t make it previous high quality management, and so forth.

Pre-Shopper and Put up-Industrial Recycled

These two phrases basically imply the identical factor. It’s the recycling of content material that by no means made it to the patron but, like scraps left over from the manufacturing course of, merchandise with defects that may’t be despatched to market, and so forth. Seeing “30% Pre Shopper Recycled” or “Put up-Industrial Recycled” on a product doesn’t imply a lot as a result of it’s materials that almost all producers could be reusing anyway as a result of it’s clear, recovered from their very own facility and requires little effort on their half.

Put up-Shopper Recycled (PCR)

That is materials recycled from merchandise which have been out within the market and returned to a producer to course of and provides it a second life, just like the objects you set in your curbside bin. That is the kind of recycled content material that’s the most significant, because it entails reclaiming used supplies, retaining them out of the landfill, giving them a brand new life. This protects power, reduces greenhouse gasoline emissions and reduces the necessity to harvest and mine new uncooked supplies.

Takeaway

When shopping for merchandise, search for the time period post-consumer, or the acronyms PCR or PCW (post-consumer waste). The upper the share of PCR/PCW supplies utilized in an merchandise, the higher.

Word: Bear in mind that 100% post-consumer recycled content material will not be achievable for all merchandise, for the reason that means of re-melting and recycling supplies like plastic adjustments its flexibility and energy.