What do performance grades A, B and C mean?

The performance grades classify the recyclability of packaging by the share that can actually be recycled: grade A from 95 %, grade B from 80 %, grade C from 70 %.

What that means for market access

• From 1 January 2030, packaging that does not reach the grade C threshold may no longer be placed on the market.
• From 1 January 2038, grade C falls away. Only A and B remain permissible.

The grade is therefore not a distinction but a threshold for market access. Packaging at grade C can be placed on the market from 2030 and no longer from 2038.

The second dimension from 2035

From 1 January 2035 a further assessment is added: the packaging must also be recycled at scale. What is meant is not theoretical recyclability in the laboratory but whether functioning collection, sorting and recovery exist for this material in sufficient volume. Packaging can therefore be well designed for recycling and still be affected if no real recovery route exists for it.

What determines the grade in practice

It is decided in the design, not in the test. Typical losses come from material combinations that cannot be separated, full-body labels and sleeves, adhesives that do not release during washing, barrier layers, colouring, and closures made of a different material from the container. Anyone who measures the grade shortly before 2030 no longer has any way of influencing it, because tooling and sign-offs are fixed by then.

How the grade can be substantiated

flustix RECYCLABLE assesses recyclability on the basis of the minimum standard under section 21(3) of the German packaging act, DIN EN 13430, ISO 15270 and the PPWR criteria, and states the result as a performance level. The result feeds into the technical documentation as verified evidence and can be used well before 2030 to back up design decisions.

One side effect pays off earlier than the deadline: in several member states recyclability already feeds into the fees under extended producer responsibility.