Putting a recycled content figure on your pack turns a supply detail into a public claim. Regulators in several markets treat environmental claims as they treat any other, so evidence carries the argument rather than confidence.
The 4 Things Behind a Defensible Claim
| Element | What it means | What your file has to hold |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pre-consumer or post-consumer material. | A statement of which you are counting, and why. |
| Measurement | How the percentage was calculated. | Supplier records of cullet used, per campaign. |
| Attribution | How that figure attaches to your bottles. | A mass balance method you can explain. |
| Verification | Who checked it, if anyone. | Certification where your market expects it. |
Why Pre and Post-Consumer Are Not Interchangeable
Pre-consumer cullet comes from manufacturing, including your supplier's own rejects returned to the furnace. Post-consumer cullet comes back from people who bought and discarded a product.
Most regulations and most retailers care about the second, because internal recycling was always happening. Quoting a combined figure without splitting it is where claims get challenged.
How Mass Balance Actually Works
A furnace melts a continuous batch, so no individual bottle can be traced to a particular tonne of cullet. Your figure comes from what went in across a campaign rather than from a bottle.
That is a legitimate method and it needs stating. Say your figure is a mass balance across a production period, and keep your supplier's records for the campaign that made your 750 ml (25 oz) order.
Cullet enters the batch, not the bottle. SGSBOTTLE melts across 14 lines in Shandong and Xuzhou.
Why Your Colour Caps Your Claim
Colour survives melting, so a flint bottle needs sorted flint cullet, which is the scarcest stream. Amber and green tolerate mixed cullet, so they carry higher figures more easily.
Set your target against your colour before printing anything. SGSBOTTLE states the achievable cullet position for your colour and format across the 14 lines in Shandong and Xuzhou, so your claim starts from a real number.
What to Ask Your Supplier For
Four items, in writing. The percentage, split between pre and post-consumer. The period the figure covers. The method used to attribute it.
And whether any third party has verified it. A supplier who answers all four gives you a claim you can defend; one who offers only a number gives you an exposure.
What This Does Not Replace
Rules on environmental claims differ by market and are tightening. Confirm the wording and the substantiation your market requires with your own regulatory advisor before it goes on a label.
What Goes on Your Enquiry
Your colour and format in ml and oz, the figure you want to claim, your destination markets and whether you need third-party verification. SGSBOTTLE comes back with the achievable percentage, the method and the records behind it.