prEN 18120-7

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-oktober-2024
Embalaža - Načrtovanje, ki omogoča recikliranje plastične embalaže - 7. del:
Smernica za prožno plastično embalažo iz polietilena (PE) in polipropilena (PP)
Packaging - Design for recycling of plastic packaging - Part 7: Guideline for PE and PP
flexible packaging
Verpackung - Recyclingorientierte Gestaltung von Kunststoffverpackungsprodukten - Teil
7: Leitfaden und Protokolle für flexible Verpackungen aus PE und PP
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN 18120-7
ICS:
13.030.50 Recikliranje Recycling
55.020 Pakiranje in distribucija blaga Packaging and distribution of
na splošno goods in general
83.080.20 Plastomeri Thermoplastic materials
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

DRAFT
EUROPEAN STANDARD
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
September 2024
ICS 55.020; 13.030.50; 83.080.20
English Version
Packaging - Design for recycling of plastic packaging - Part
7: Guideline for PE and PP flexible packaging
Verpackung - Recyclingorientierte Gestaltung von
Kunststoffverpackungsprodukten - Teil 7: Leitfaden
und Protokolle für flexible Verpackungen aus PE und
PP
This draft European Standard is submitted to CEN members for enquiry. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee
CEN/TC 261.
If this draft becomes a European Standard, CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations
which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.

This draft European Standard was established by CEN in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and
United Kingdom.
Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are
aware and to provide supporting documentation.

Warning : This document is not a European Standard. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without
notice and shall not be referred to as a European Standard.

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2024 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. prEN 18120-7:2024 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Compatibility of PE and PP-based flexible packaging designs with recycling . 6
4.1 General characteristics . 6
4.2 Sortability and residual content after emptying . 7
4.3 Copolymers of PE and PP . 7
4.4 Packaging format specific design guidance . 7
4.4.1 General . 7
4.4.2 White packaging . 8
Annex A (informative) PE and PP flexible packaging functionalities . 16
Bibliography. 17

European foreword
This document (prEN 18120-7:2024) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 261
“Packaging”, the secretariat of which is held by AFNOR.
This document is currently submitted to the CEN Enquiry.
This document has been prepared under a standardization request addressed to CEN by the European
Commission. The Standing Committee of the EFTA States subsequently approves these requests for its
Member States.
Introduction
EN 18120 consisting of 15 parts aims via a series of guidelines and protocols to establish consistency and
improvement for the Design for recycling of household, industrial and commercial plastic packaging
products.
— Part 1: Definitions and principles for design-for-recycling of plastic packaging
— Part 3: Sortability evaluation process for plastic packaging
— Part 4: Guideline for PET bottles
— Part 5: Guideline for PET other rigid packaging
— Part 6: Guideline for PE and PP rigid packaging
— Part 7: Guideline and protocols for PE and PP flexible packaging
— Part 8: Guideline for PS and XPS packaging
— Part 9: Guideline for EPS packaging
— Part 10: Recyclability evaluation process for plastic packaging — Protocols for PET bottles
— Part 11: Recyclability evaluation process for plastic packaging — Protocols for PET other rigid
packaging
— Part 12: Recyclability evaluation process for plastic packaging — Protocols for PE and PP rigid
packaging
— Part 13: Recyclability evaluation process for plastic packaging — Protocols for PE and PP flexible
packaging
— Part 14: Recyclability evaluation process for plastic packaging — Protocols for PS and XPS packaging
— Part 15: Recyclability evaluation process for plastic packaging — Protocols for EPS packaging
Design for recycling guidelines are a common way of describing compatibility with plastic packaging
collection, sorting and recycling into high quality recycled plastic into state-of-the-art facilities. They
provide guidance on the level compatibility, defined as:
— green: Packaging constituents with full compatibility with recycling;
— yellow: Packaging constituents with limited compatibility with recycling;
— red: Packaging constituents which are not compatible with recycling.
Recyclability guidelines will require regular review and improvement to reflect innovations in design,
collection, sorting and recycling.
The Design for recycling guidelines provided in this series of standards are representative of the state of
the art in Europe and cover all steps from design for recycling, packaging waste collection, sorting,
recycling into recycled plastic and to use in a new application.
Packaging recyclability is the combination of five parameters: packaging designed for recycling,
packaging waste collection, sorting when necessary, recycling and use of recycled plastic in a new
application. This series of standards covers one parameter: the design for recycling.

1 Scope
This document covers the design of PE and PP flexible packaging with respect to compatibility of the
design with the collecting, sorting, and recycling processes.
Packaging constituents and packaging components made of other materials than PE and PP are also
covered by this document as they need to be evaluated on compatibility with polymer recycling.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way their content constitutes requirements
of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest
edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
prEN 18120-1, Packaging — Design for recycling of plastic packaging — Part 1: Definitions and principles
for design-for-recycling of plastic packaging
prEN 18120-3, Packaging — Design for recycling of plastic packaging — Part 3: Sortability evaluation
process for plastic packaging
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in prEN 18120-1 apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp/
— IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
4 Compatibility of PE and PP-based flexible packaging designs with recycling
4.1 General characteristics
To determine the recyclability of the design of a PE or PP flexible packaging, the following guidance tables
shall be consulted in conjunction with the definitions provided in prEN 18120-1, Packaging — Design for
recycling of plastic packaging — Part 1: Definitions and principles for design-for-recycling of plastic
packaging. The tables provide combined design guidance for all considered recycling processes.
The design guidance provided in this document covers a) main packaging components which constitute
PE or PP-based flexible packaging, with all their integrated components and all constituents, including
those which are removed during the recycling process and b) separate components (of other types of
packaging) which constitute PE or PP flexible materials, with all their constituents, including those which
are removed during the recycling process.
It does not cover separate components of flexible packaging (which are already separated before the
sorting process) as per the definition of prEN 18120-1 and as determined according to prEN 18120-3,
unless these again constitute flexible packaging.
Separate components are to be evaluated separately, as described in prEN 18120-1. As such, a separate
component can be fully compatible with recycling even when an integrated component or a constituent
of the same specification would only have limited or no compatibility with recycling according to the
guidance in this document. Equally, separate components can be not compatible with recycling even
when an integrated component would be compatible.

This standard considers mechanical recycling of PE and PP flexible packaging into films as the primary outlet and
mechanical recycling into injection moulded parts as the secondary outlet.
4.2 Sortability and residual content after emptying
The design guidance provided by this document considers effects on the sortability of packaging. It does
however not provide details on established sorting processes or a method for determining sortability.
Where sortability testing is advised in the guidance of this document, the provisions of prEN 18120-3
shall apply. This includes the consideration of the effects of residual product content after emptying on
the sortability.
4.3 Copolymers of PE and PP
PE used in the production of flexible packaging materials can include additional constituents and/or
components such as ethylene copolymers. Such copolymers include for example ethylene butyl acrylate
(EBA), ethylene acrylic acid (EAA) and its zinc, sodium and potassium ionomers for packaging
applications, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), ethylene methyl acrylate (EMA), ethylene ethyl acrylate (EEA),
ethylene methacrylic acid (EMAA) and its zinc, sodium and potassium ionomers for packaging
applications and polyethylene-grafted maleic anhydride (PE-g-MAH) and cycloolefin copolymers as well
as ethylene-based elastomers. Ethylene copolymers of the polar comonomers listed above are considered
fully recycling compatible constituents and/or components of PE as long as their polar monomer content
is less than 5 % of the total packaging mass. No upper limit is considered for non-polar comonomers like
alpha olefins and norbornene. However, if the comonomer content is equal or greater than 50 wt%, the
copolymer is no longer considered a PE copolymer but a copolymer of the other comonomer. For such
cases, the classification of PE copolymers in the design guidance tables shall not apply and the material
shall be considered separately.
PP used in the production of flexible packaging materials can include additional constituents and/or
components such as polypropylene copolymers. Copolymers may comprise ethylene, higher alpha-
olefins, cycloolefins, and dienes as comonomers. Furthermore, PP polymers can be grafted with MAH. If
the comonomer content is equal or greater than 50 wt%, the copolymer is no longer considered a PP
copolymer but a copolymer of the other comonomer. For such cases, the classification of PP copolymers
in the design guidance tables shall not apply and the material shall be considered separately.
4.4 Packaging format specific design guidance
4.4.1 General
The tables in this subclause provide differentiated design guidance for PE and PP flexible packaging,
acknowledging differences between both the properties of these plastics as well as parameters of their
recycling processes and different possible end uses for the recycled plastic.
When both PE and PP ar
...