Which threshold applies to LESS PLASTICS?

There is not one threshold but a separate one for each trustmark and material type. The trustmark always carries the assessed figure as MIN. X % PLASTIC-FREE, and that figure is the evidence.

LESS PLASTICS Product

In general, at least 99.8% plastic-free content is required. For paper-based products made from virgin fibres the threshold is 98% plastic-free, with the option of declaring at least 98.75% or 99.25% plastic-free content. For paper-based products made from recycled fibres, at least 97% plastic-free applies.

LESS PLASTICS Packaging

Packaging qualifies from at least 95% plastic-free; the requirements are based on the PPWR. To encourage innovation, labelling follows a three-tier system with at least 96.5% or 98%.

LESS PLASTICS Total Product

Product and packaging are assessed separately. Each component must meet the requirement of its own category.

What does not apply

Press articles from 2019 to 2022 state that flustix defines plastic-free as “less than 0.5 per cent plastic”. That is a misreading of our definition at the time, and the figure itself is ours: until 2020 an article counted as PLASTIC-FREE if it consisted exclusively of materials containing no plastics. The 0.5 per cent was the tolerance for unavoidable contamination from environmental influences and the manufacturing process, measured against the total weight of the packaged product. A tolerance for contamination is not the same thing as a permitted plastic content.

With the move to LESS PLASTICS that definition no longer applies. What counts are the tiers above and the LESS PLASTICS certification programme in its current edition alone.

Two further figures circulate. Both are correct in themselves but are generalised wrongly:

“A maximum of 0.75 per cent synthetic polymers.” The figure is right, but it is not the requirement for all products. It is the highest declaration tier for paper-based products made from virgin fibres: MIN. 99.25% PLASTIC-FREE corresponds to at most 0.75 per cent plastic. The general requirement for LESS PLASTICS Product is at least 99.8 per cent plastic-free, which is considerably stricter.

“Low-plastic products with 5 per cent or less.” This figure also comes from the programme, but it applies to packaging only: packaging qualifies from at least 95 per cent plastic-free, so at most 5 per cent plastic. It does not apply to products.

Reading any of these figures as “the flustix threshold” means reading a single value as a rule. That is why the trustmark always states the verified value of the specific product.

Status: September 2026, certification programme edition February 2025.