CEN/TS 16010:2013

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-maj-2014
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Plastics - Recycled plastics - Sampling procedures for testing plastics waste and
recyclates
Kunststoffe - Kunststoff-Rezyklate - Probenahmeverfahren zur Prüfung von
Kunststoffabfall und Rezyklaten
Plastiques - Plastiques recyclés - Procédures d'échantillonnage pour l'essai des déchets
de plastiques et des recyclats
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: CEN/TS 16010:2013
ICS:
13.030.50 Recikliranje Recycling
83.080.01 Polimerni materiali na Plastics in general
splošno
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
CEN/TS 16010
SPÉCIFICATION TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHE SPEZIFIKATION
January 2013
ICS 13.030.50; 83.080.01
English Version
Plastics - Recycled plastics - Sampling procedures for testing
plastics waste and recyclates
Plastiques - Plastiques recyclés - Procédures Kunststoffe - Kunststoff-Rezyklate - Probenahmeverfahren
d'échantillonnage pour l'essai des déchets de plastiques et zur Prüfung von Kunststoffabfall und Rezyklaten
des recyclats
This Technical Specification (CEN/TS) was approved by CEN on 22 October 2012 for provisional application.

The period of validity of this CEN/TS is limited initially to three years. After two years the members of CEN will be requested to submit their
comments, particularly on the question whether the CEN/TS can be converted into a European Standard.

CEN members are required to announce the existence of this CEN/TS in the same way as for an EN and to make the CEN/TS available
promptly at national level in an appropriate form. It is permissible to keep conflicting national standards in force (in parallel to the CEN/TS)
until the final decision about the possible conversion of the CEN/TS into an EN is reached.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United
Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

Management Centre: Avenue Marnix 17, B-1000 Brussels
© 2013 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. CEN/TS 16010:2013: E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

Contents Page
Foreword .3
Introduction .4
1 Scope .5
2 Normative references .5
3 Terms and definitions .5
4 Symbols and abbreviations .7
5 Calculating the probability that a given set of samples is representative.7
6 Sampling from non homogeneous material streams .9
7 Procedures for the determination of material characteristics through sampling . 10
Annex A (normative) Procedures for the determination of material characteristics through
sampling . 13
Annex B (informative) Principal development of standard deviation 's' as a function of number of
samples 'n' . 16
Annex C (informative) Development of factor 't' of the Student distribution for different levels of
confidence . 17
Bibliography . 18

Foreword
This document (CEN/TS 16010:2013) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 249 “Plastics”, the
secretariat of which is held by NBN.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. CEN [and/or CENELEC] shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This Technical Specification is one part of a series of CEN publications on Plastics Recycling that is structured
as follows:
 EN 15342, Plastics — Recycled Plastics — Characterization of polystyrene (PS) recyclates
 EN 15343, Plastics — Recycled Plastics — Plastics recycling traceability and assessment of conformity
and recycled content
 EN 15344, Plastics — Recycled Plastics — Characterisation of Polyethylene (PE) recyclates
 EN 15345, Plastics — Recycled Plastics — Characterisation of Polypropylene (PP) recyclates
 EN 15346, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Characterisation of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) recyclates
 EN 15347, Plastics — Recycled Plastics — Characterisation of plastics wastes
 EN 15348, Plastic — Recycled plastics — Characterization of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)
recyclates
 CEN/TR 15353, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Guidelines for the development of standards for recycled
plastics
 CEN/TS 16011, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Sample preparation
According to the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the following
countries are bound to announce this Technical Specification: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus,
Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Introduction
Recycling of plastics waste is one type of material recovery process intended to save resources (virgin raw
materials, water, energy), while minimising harmful emissions into air, water and soil as well as their impacts
on human health. The environmental impact of recycling should be assessed over the whole life cycle of the
recycling system (from the waste generation point to the disposal of final residues). To ensure that recycling
constitutes the best environmental option for treating the available waste, some prerequisites should
preferably be met:
 the recycling scheme being contemplated should generate lower environmental impacts than alternative
recovery options;
 existing or potential market outlets should be identified that will secure a sustainable industrial recycling
operation;
 the collection and sorting schemes should be properly designed to deliver recyclable plastics waste
fractions fitting reasonably well with the available recycling technologies and with the (changing) needs of
the identified market outlets, preferably at minimum costs for society.
This Technical Specification has been produced in accordance with the guidance produced by CEN on
Environmental Aspects and in accordance with CEN/TR 15353, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Guidelines
for the development of standards for recycled plastics.
NOTE CEN/TR 15353 considers the general environmental aspects which are specific to the recycling process.
This Technical Specification is intended to serve two purposes.
1. To provide a guide to plastic recyclers and others that enables a calculation to be made of the risk of
inaccuracy presented by a chosen sampling regime. This will help to inform decisions about sampling
that can also be influenced by factors such as the supply record of a supplier or the reliability of a
process. This is covered in Clause 5.
2. To define the sampling procedures to be followed to characterise the material being sampled. These
procedures may be followed where a particular level of accuracy is required, or where the sampling is
in support of the resolution of a dispute. This is covered in Clause 7 and Annex A.
It is not the intention of this Technical Specification to develop new sampling methods.

1 Scope
This Technical Specification specifies a system for sampling procedures for testing plastics waste and
recyclates which take into account the specifics of the plastics waste and recyclates. It is intended to cover all
stages of the plastic recycling process.
The sampling procedures include the statistical specifics of the plastic waste and the behaviour of recyclates.
The sampling method should produce a representative testing sample. Differences can arise due to:
 the mixture of plastics;
 the origin (e.g. green dot in Germany, or electronic/automotive industry);
 the previous use of the plastic material;
 the residual contents (e.g. of containers);
 inert, residual or moisture content on or in the material.
This Technical Specification is without prejudice to any existing legislation.
2 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are
indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references,
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
CEN/TR 15353:2007, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Guidelines for the development of standards for
recycled plastics
CEN/TS 16011, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Sample preparation
EN ISO 472:2001, Plastics — Vocabulary (ISO 472:1999)
ISO 11648-1:2003, Statistical aspects of sampling from bulk materials — Part 1: General principles
ISO 11648-2:2001, Statistical aspects of sampling from bulk materials — Part 2: Sampling of particulate
materials
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms, definitions and abbreviated terms given in EN ISO 472:2001, in
CEN/TR 15353:2007 and the following apply.
NOTE The terms used are confined to the field of bulk sampling.
3.1
bulk material
amount of material within which component parts are not initially distinguishable on the macroscopic level
[SOURCE: ISO 11648-1:2003]
3.2
sample
combination of a set of increments of material taken from a lot, intended to supply information, and possibly
serve as a basis for a decision concerning the lot or the process by which it has been produced
[SOURCE: ISO 8656-1:1988]
3.3
increment
quantity of bulk material taken in one action by a sampling device
[SOURCE: ISO 11648-1:2003]
3.4
laboratory sample
sample intended to be used for an inspection or for laboratory tests
[SOURCE: ISO 8656-1:1988]
3.5
test sample
sample taken from the laboratory sample and prepared in a suitable manner for subjection to particular tests
Note 1 to entry: Test samples might be prepared, for example, for the determination of particle size distribution,
moisture content, chemical composition, physical or other properties. See also CEN/TS 16011.
[SOURCE: ISO 8656-1:1988]
3.6
central limit theorem
fundamental theorem of probability and statistics, stating that the distribution of the mean of a random sample
from a population with finite variance is approximately normally distributed when the sample size is large,
regardless of the shape of the population's distribution
Note 1 to entry: If x , x , …., x are independent measurements (i.e. a random sample of size n), from a population
1 2 n
where the mean of x is µ, and the standard deviation of x is σ, then:
x1+ x 2+ .+ xn
The distribution of  = has mean and standard deviation given by:
n
σ
µ = µ and σ =
 
n
When n is sufficiently large, then the distribution of  is approximately normal.
3.7
Student's t-distribution
t-distribution
probability distribution that is effective in the problem for estimating the mean of a normally distributed
population when the sample size is small
3.8
duration
length of sample time when sampling from a continuous stream
3.9
plastics waste
plastics fraction of waste
3.10
waste
material or object which the holder discards, or intends to discard, or is required to discard
[SOURCE: ISO 15270:2008]
4 Symbols and abbreviations
n number of single samples, number of measurements
x independent single measured value
n
 arithmetic mean (average value, average)
s standard deviation of samples
σ standard deviation of population
µ is the real value of the true mean of the known distribution
t the value of the Student deviation for different levels of confidence
5 Calculating the probability that a given set of samples is representative
5.1 General
In everyday circumstances plastics recyclers require sampling for two basic purposes: to provide input quality
control and to verify the quality of the output recycled plastic. Although the physical properties of input and
output materials might be very different, the underlying statistical principles are the same. The samples taken
shall be sufficiently representative of the batch to satisfy the user of the sample information that it is relevant
for his purpose. The sampling regime will be based on a number of factors inc
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