What are the benefits of an independent flustix certification?

An independent flustix certification delivers robust third-party evidence for defined product properties such as recycled content, recyclability, plastic reduction, microplastic-free status or PFAS-free status. This evidence works in four areas at once: regulatory compliance and market access, monetary advantages from tax and bonus schemes, tenders and supplier qualification, and credible, compliant environmental communication. The difference from a self-declaration lies in the burden of proof: whoever claims a product property themselves has to substantiate it themselves if challenged.

Why is a self-declaration no longer sufficient?

Requirements for verifiable environmental and material properties keep rising. Companies increasingly have to substantiate how high the recycled content of a product is, whether packaging is recyclable, or whether defined requirements on plastic reduction, microplastics or PFAS are met.

An independent certification translates these product properties into traceable third-party evidence that holds up towards customers, retail, authorities, contracting bodies and other market participants. Self-disclosure does not shift the risk; verified evidence does.

What financial benefits does certified recycled content bring?

Certified evidence can represent an immediate monetary advantage, because several European countries link taxes, bonuses and EPR fees directly to verified recycled content.

In Spain, the plastic tax is levied on the non-recycled plastic share of certain non-reusable plastic packaging. The rate is 0.45 euros per kilogram of non-recycled plastic. For the recycled content to be deducted for tax purposes, Spanish law requires evidence from an accredited certification body on the basis of UNE-EN 15343 or a successor standard.

In France, financial bonuses for the use of plastic recyclates have been granted since 2026. Depending on the origin and application of the recyclate, these are generally 450 or 550 euros per tonne. For certain hard-to-recycle plastics in contact-sensitive packaging applications, the scheme provides for even higher premiums.

The Netherlands also rely on financial incentives: in the Verpact scheme, the use of recyclate is credited in 2026 at 0.20 euros per kilogram of packaging. From 2027 the tariff structure is to be expanded further: the higher the recycled content, the greater the financial advantage. The concrete conditions are currently being finalised.

The direction is clear: wherever taxes, bonuses, reduced EPR fees or other advantages are tied to specific material properties, robust and, where regulation requires it, accredited certification evidence decides whether companies can actually use those advantages. The evidence comes from flustix RECYCLED.

As at August 2026

Who is responsible for the conformity of packaging under the PPWR?

Since 12 August 2026 the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) has applied directly across the European Union. It considerably tightens the requirements for packaging and introduces binding rules step by step, among others on recyclability, recycled content, packaging minimisation as well as technical documentation and conformity assessment.

Particularly relevant for brand companies is the question of who has to provide the evidence. In its current PPWR guidance, the European Commission makes clear that the “manufacturer” within the meaning of the PPWR is not necessarily the company that physically produces the packaging. Where packaging or a packaged product is made and placed on the market under a company’s own name or brand, the brand owner is in principle to be regarded as the manufacturer. The guidance also stresses that there is in principle only one manufacturer within the meaning of the PPWR along the supply chain.

That manufacturer carries the legal responsibility for the conformity of the packaging. Suppliers have to provide the necessary information and documents, but responsibility for the conformity assessment, the technical documentation and the proof of conformity stays with the responsible manufacturer. The Commission expressly describes the brand owner as the economic operator carrying legal responsibility for the compliance of the packaging.

A pre-certification of the packaging or material supplier therefore does not transfer that responsibility to the supplier. It can be an important component of the evidence, but it does not replace the product- and brand-specific compliance of the party placing the goods on the market. This is exactly where flustix offers a pragmatic route: for materials or packaging already certified at the plant, the flustix sub-licence model can transfer an existing certification to the brand owner or their specific product under defined conditions. A downstream brand therefore does not have to rebuild the entire certification chain, yet obtains the certification evidence relevant to its own responsibility. More on our PPWR page.

May sustainability labels still be used from 27 September 2026?

Yes, but under one clear condition. From 27 September 2026 the requirements of the EU directive “Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition” (EmpCo) apply. Sustainability labels may then in principle only be used if they are based on a certification scheme or were established by a public authority. At the same time, generic or insufficiently substantiated environmental claims are restricted further.

For companies this means that a mere self-declaration increasingly becomes a regulatory and commercial risk. Infringements of European consumer protection rules can be penalised with fines; in cross-border cases the maximum amount must reach at least 4% of the company’s annual turnover in the member states concerned.

All flustix trustmarks are based on defined certification programmes with independent conformity assessment and can be verified in the public certification database. An environmental claim thereby becomes a substantiated claim. More under green claims.

What role do certificates play in tenders and supplier qualification?

Verifiable environmental and material properties keep gaining importance in public tenders, supplier qualification and professional procurement. Environmental criteria, recyclability, recycled content and further sustainability requirements can form part of award criteria and technical specifications.

Independent certificates offer a structural advantage here: required product properties do not have to be asserted by the supplier itself, but can be demonstrated traceably and independently towards procurement, clients and business partners. Supplying the evidence shortens the review process on the customer side.

What does a certified trustmark bring in market communication?

The flustix trustmarks make independently certified product properties directly visible: on products and packaging, in online retail, at the point of sale and in B2B communication. Companies can clearly differentiate their actual performance from competitors and credibly communicate verified properties such as plastic reduction, microplastic-free status, recycled content, recyclability or PFAS-free status.

flustix thereby connects the areas that belong together for companies today: regulatory compliance, financial advantages, market access and credible marketing. Independently certified. Robustly evidenced. Safely communicated.