EN 15343 Certification Program

The EN 15343 Certification Program was developed for recyclers and producers who want to demonstrate their contribution to plastic waste management and transparently report the origin of their waste. It confirms that the processor or manufacturer of products containing recycled materials adheres to traceability and recycling standards and meets EU legal and regulatory requirements.

The requirements of the EN 15343 Certification Program are consistent with the requirements of the EN 15343:2007 and ISO 22095:2020 standards.

The EN 15343 certification program is developed and owned by Silk Road Certification Sp. z o.o.

Learn more about the EN 15343 certification program.

Information

Certification covers the key requirements of EN 15343:2027:

• Incoming material control
• Production process control in recycling
• Characterization of recycled plastics
• Traceability
• Quality assessment
• Calculation of recycled content

Types of RecyClass Certificates

Depending on the length of production records, different EN 15343 Certification Program certificates are being awarded:

• initial, for recyclers who can provide production records from the full 12 months preceding the month in which the audit was conducted,
• provisional, when the recycling process will be less than 12 months or the organization has less than 12 months of production records. A minimum 3-month data collection period is required to obtain the certificate.
• monitoring, for producers who have previously obtained the RecyClass certificate, will undergo an extension (monitoring) audit and can provide production records from the last 12 months,
• multi-site certification for organizations conducting the recycling process in two or more separate locations while maintaining the above distinctions.
• extension of an existing certificate – applies to situations where significant changes have been made to the recycling process during the certificate validity period, the producer should report this to the auditor. During the certificate validity period, the certificate can also be extended to include additional material or a module. This requires an additional audit.

Certificate Validity:

• Certificates are valid for 12 months from the date of issue by the certification body
• In order to maintain the continuity of certification, the recycler should undergo an annual monitoring  audit. A monitoring audit can be carried out at the earliest 12 weeks before the expiry of the current certificate.

An organization that wants to obtain a Certificate must have or demonstrate compliance with, among others:

1. traceability requirements in accordance with EN 15343:2007 quality management systems
2. requirements for environmental and administrative operational efficiency in waste recycling (including the decision to process waste)
3. requirements resulting from the declared supply chain.

The main requirements of the EN 15343 Certification Program are:

• conducting business in accordance with applicable laws and permits,
• implementation of supply control and quality control procedures for supplied materials, ensuring traceability throughout the recycling process, in accordance with the declared supply chain model,
• implementation of good management practices,
• mass balance detailing process “inputs” and “outputs”,
• quality control of the final product,
• length of the period for which production records will be maintained, which will be subject to verification.

Certification is based on cooperation with one of 6 RecyClass auditors.

At Silk Road Certification, we do this in steps:

STAGE I: Application

A company interested in obtaining the EN 15343 Certification Program certificate as a first step is asked to fill out applications in which it determines i.e materials.

To receive an application, contact info@src.org.pl.

STAGE II: Application Review

The application review includes the correctness of the declared data and an assessment of:

• the level of certification – whether it is initial, temporary, or related to a significant change in the recycling process, etc.
• location
• the type of input materials and their sources of origin (waste or products),
• the type of output material from recycling,

STAGE III: Offer

Based on the review of the application, a price offer is presented and a list of documents is provided to be prepared by the applicant for verification during the audit.

STAGE IV: Agreement

If the offer is accepted, a contract will be presented.

STAGE V: Audyt

Phase I

After completing the formalities indicated in the above point, you will be asked to submit documentation for review prior to the on-site audit (Phase I of the audit). A list of required documents will be provided in email correspondence. The purpose of reviewing the submitted documentation is to confirm the company’s initial compliance with the requirements.

Phase II

Certification audit – audit activities (on-site visit) conducted at locations performing processes covered by certification.

During an on-site audit, it is necessary for the production line to be operational. If this is impossible for some reason, the audit date should be changed.

Based on the information collected during the audit, the auditor prepares a draft report. The draft may be made available to the Applicant to clarify any final questions. The auditor also informs the Applicant of any non-conformities and asks for the implementation of corrective actions, if necessary, or describes recommendations for improvement.

STAGE VI: Report verification

A RecyClass Silk Road Certification verifier who did not participate in the on-site audit will review the audit report.

STAGE VII: Certificate Issue

If the technical verification result is positive and the applicant fulfills all conditions resulting from the agreement, the Auditor Verifier, who did not participate in the audit assessment, decides to issue the Certificate. If the review is negative, the Certification will not be granted. The decision must be made within 12 weeks of the date of the on-site audit.

Silk Road Certification prepares the certificate and informs update the information in the database.

List of certificates

List of issued certificates of EN15343 Certification Program

Q&A