The EU Ecolabel criteria target the best printed paper, stationery paper and paper carrier bag products on the market, in terms of environmental performance. The criteria focus on the main environmental impacts associated with the life cycle of these products and promote circular economy aspects.
In particular, the criteria aim to promote products that use high contents of sustainable or recycled fibres, are recyclable, are associated with low emissions and which may only contain a limited amount of hazardous substances.
To this end the criteria:
require that the paper substrate, including paper board, is EU Ecolabel certified;
set strict limits on the use of hazardous substances;
set requirements to guarantee the product recyclability and a proper waste management system including limits on the maximum amount of paper waste produced;
set requirements on emissions, particularly on the reduction of VOCs emissions to help guarantee associated benefits for worker health and for reductions in local and regional atmospheric pollution;
set requirements on energy consumption at the production site.
The criteria for awarding the EU Ecolabel to ‘printed paper, stationery paper, and paper carrier bag products’ are as follows:
Substrate;
Restricted substances:
Restrictions on Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs);
Restrictions on substances classified under Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council(1);
Biocidal products and biocidal active substances;
Cleaning agents;
Alkyl phenol ethoxylates, halogenated solvents and phthalates;
Further restrictions applying to printing inks, toners and varnishes;
Toluene recovery from rotogravure printing;
Recyclability:
Removability of non-paper parts;
Repulpability;
Adhesives removability;
Deinkability;
Emissions:
Emissions to water from rotogravure printing;
Emission from installations covered by Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(2) or equivalent installations;
VOCs emission from printing processes not covered by Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;
Waste:
Waste management system;
Paper for recycling from printing facilities;
Paper for recycling from stationery paper product and carrier bags production sites;
Energy use;
Training;
Fitness for use;
Information on the product;
Information appearing on the EU Ecolabel.
The ecological criteria cover the manufacturing of printed paper, stationery paper, and paper carrier bag products, including constituent sub-processes, from the paper production to the site(s) and dedicated production lines where the printed paper, stationery paper and paper carrier bag products are printed and/or converted. The ecological criteria do not cover the transport and packaging.
All printing or converting operations applied to the printed paper, stationery paper and paper carrier bag products shall fulfil the respective requirements. Parts of the final product that are printed or converted by a sub-contractor shall also fulfil the related requirements. The application shall include a list of all the printing houses and subcontractors involved in the production of the product, and their geographic locations.
An application can be submitted for a product line of specified type such as e.g. glued brochure of 2 to 30 pages. In this case, the sample product that represents the product line needs to fulfil the criteria. The sample product must be analysed in reference to all materials and chemicals used, types of paper, the maximum number of pages, the maximum format and all possible types of binding. The EU Ecolabel can be used for all subsequent products that comply with the defined criteria for the sample product.
Changes in suppliers, production sites and production process, pertaining to products to which the EU Ecolabel has been granted shall be notified to Competent Bodies, together with supporting information to enable verification of continued compliance with the criteria. For a product type manufactured on a recurring basis or a product type that will only be manufactured once, the application shall address the specific product.
Assessment and verification: The specific assessment and verification requirements are indicated within each criterion.
Where the applicant is required to provide declarations, documentation, analyses, test reports or other evidence to show compliance with the criteria, these may originate from the applicant and/or his supplier(s) and/or their supplier(s), etc. as appropriate.
Competent bodies shall preferentially recognise attestations that are issued by bodies accredited in accordance with the relevant harmonised standard for testing and calibration laboratories, and verifications by bodies that are accredited in accordance with the relevant harmonised standard for bodies certifying products, processes and services.
Where appropriate, test methods other than those indicated for each criterion may be used if the competent body assessing the application accepts their equivalence.
Where appropriate, competent bodies may require supporting documentation and may carry out independent verifications or site inspections to check compliance with these criteria.
Changes in suppliers and production sites pertaining to products to which the EU Ecolabel has been granted shall be notified to Competent Bodies, together with supporting information to enable verification of continued compliance with the criteria.
As a prerequisite the printed paper, stationery paper and paper carrier bag product(s) shall meet all applicable legal requirements of the country or countries in which the product is placed on the market. The applicant shall declare the product’s compliance with this requirement.
The following definitions shall apply:
‘adhesive application’ refers to processed adhesives used in finished paper products (typically applied as films);
‘cleaning agents’ means the following: (a) liquid chemicals used to wash printing forms, both separate (off-press) and integrated (in-press), and printing presses to remove printing inks, paper dust and similar products; (b) cleaners for finishing machines and printing machines, such as cleaners to remove adhesive and varnish residues; (c) printing inks removers used in washing off dried printing inks; not including cleaning agents for cleaning other parts of the printing machine or for cleaning other machines than printing machines and finishing machines;
‘converting process’ means a process whereby a material is processed into a converted paper product, including sometimes a printing process (pre-press, press, and post-press operations);
‘converted paper product’ is a paper, board or paper-based substrate, either printed or unprinted, generally used to protect, handle or store items or notes, for which the converting process is an essential part of the production process, comprising three main categories of products: envelopes, paper carrier bags and stationery paper products;
‘flexography’ means a printing activity using an image carrier of rubber or elastic photopolymers on which the printing areas are above the non-printing areas, using liquid inks which dry through evaporation;
‘fugitive emissions’ means any emissions not in waste gases of volatile organic compounds into air, soil and water as well as solvents contained in any products, unless otherwise stated in Part 2 of Annex VII of Directive 2010/75/EU;
‘halogenated organic solvent’ means an organic solvent which contains at least one atom of bromine, chlorine, fluorine or iodine per molecule;
‘heatset web offset’ means a web-fed printing activity using an image carrier in which the printing and non-printing area are in the same plane, where web-fed means that the material to be printed is fed to the machine from a reel as distinct from separate sheets;
‘laminating’ means adhering together of two or more flexible materials to produce laminates;
‘paper for recycling’ means paper waste stream generated during the production of finished product;
‘pressure-sensitive adhesive coatings’ (PSA): means adhesives with still mobile molecules on their surfaces that, even after setting, can produce sufficient adhesion by pressing their cohesive films (coating) against the surface to be bonded;
‘publication rotogravure’ means a rotogravure printing activity used for printing paper for magazines, brochures, catalogues or similar products, using toluene-based inks;
‘repulping’ means conversion of paper back into pulp;
‘rotary screen printing’ means a web-fed printing activity in which the ink is passed onto the surface to be printed by forcing it through a porous image carrier, in which the printing area is open and the non-printing area is sealed off, using liquid inks which dry only through evaporation.
‘rotogravure’ means a printing activity using a cylindrical image carrier in which the printing area is below the non-printing area, using liquid inks, which dry through evaporation.
‘TVOC’ means total volatile organic carbon, expressed as C (in air).
‘web-fed’ means that the material to be printed is fed into the machine from a reel as distinct from separate sheets;
‘varnishing’ means an activity by which a varnish or an adhesive coating for the purpose of later sealing the packaging material is applied to a flexible material;
‘volatile organic compounds’ (VOC) means any organic compound as well as the fraction of creosote, having at 293,15 K a vapour pressure of 0,01 kPa or more, or having a corresponding volatility under the particular conditions of use;
Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, amending and repealing Directives 67/548/EEC and 1999/45/EC, and amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (OJ L 353, 31.12.2008, p. 1).
Directive 2010/75/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) (OJ L 334, 17.12.2010, p. 17).