Overview
SIST EN 18120-3:2026, published by CEN, defines standardized requirements and testing procedures to evaluate the sortability of plastic packaging for recycling. The document is a crucial part of the EN 18120 series, which focuses on design for recycling of all plastic packaging types. This standard specifically addresses the ability of plastic packaging - both rigid and flexible, and their components - to be effectively identified and sorted within state-of-the-art automated collection and sorting processes as found in Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) and Plastic Recovery Facilities (PRF) across Europe.
Progress towards a circular economy for plastics depends on the efficient mechanical recycling of plastic packaging. SIST EN 18120-3:2026 establishes a harmonized approach to assess whether packaging designs are compatible with technologies like optical sorting, magnetic separation, windshifters, and other recognized best practices in recycling facilities.
Key Topics
- Sortability of Plastic Packaging: The core focus is on the 'sortability' - the ability of packaging to be properly identified and directed into target recycling streams (e.g., PET bottles, PE films, PP rigids).
- Testing Procedures: The standard sets out detailed testing protocols, applicable to both pilot and industrial scale facilities, to experimentally determine how different packaging items perform through typical recycling plant operations.
- Unit Operations: Describes state-of-the-art sorting equipment and techniques: sieving (trommel screens), windshifting, magnetic and eddy current separation, ballistic separation, and optical sorters utilizing near-infrared (NIR) and visual spectrum (VIS) detection.
- Evaluation Criteria: Focuses on maximizing sortability yield and minimizing misdirection or contamination of recycling streams.
- Design-for-Recycling Guidance: Provides direction on how specific design choices (e.g., labels, closures, material combinations) may enable or impede the detection and sorting of packaging into high-value recycled fractions.
Applications
- Packaging Manufacturers and Designers: By following SIST EN 18120-3:2026, packaging producers can validate that new plastic packaging concepts are compatible with current recycling infrastructure, meeting both regulatory requirements and sustainability commitments.
- Recyclers and Recovery Facilities: MRFs and PRFs utilize the standard to benchmark and improve sorting processes and to identify problematic packaging formats that hinder operational efficiency or output quality.
- Brand Owners and Retailers: Helps companies adopt packaging that supports a circular economy, aligns with eco-design principles, and delivers compliance with EU plastic recycling directives.
- Testing Laboratories: Guides independent labs in conducting standardized sortability tests to generate reliable, comparable results for the packaging industry.
- Regulatory Authorities: Provides a harmonized reference for policy implementation and supports ecodesign, extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes, and waste reduction goals.
Related Standards
SIST EN 18120-3:2026 is closely linked with other standards in the EN 18120 series, including:
- EN 18120-1: Definitions and general principles for design-for-recycling of plastic packaging.
- EN 18120-2: Processes for evaluating the recyclability of plastic packaging.
- EN 18120-4 to EN 18120-15: Specific guidelines and protocols for different plastic materials and packaging types (e.g., PET bottles, PE/PP rigids, flexible packaging, PS and EPS packaging).
It aligns with wider ISO and CEN standards on recycling, packaging, and plastics, supporting the transition to circular and sustainable packaging solutions.
By adopting SIST EN 18120-3:2026, stakeholders can design, test, and select plastic packaging with optimized sortability for high-quality recycling, advancing environmental goals and regulatory compliance across the packaging value chain. This standard is essential for any organization aiming to future-proof their plastic packaging within Europe's evolving recycling landscape.