SIST EN 15342:2025

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-julij-2025
Polimerni materiali - Reciklirani polimerni materiali - Karakterizacija recikliranega
polistirena (PS)
Plastics - Recycled plastics - Characterization of polystyrene (PS) recyclates
Kunststoffe - Kunststoff-Rezyklate - Charakterisierung von Polystyrol (PS)-Rezyklaten
Plastiques - Plastiques recyclés - Caractérisation des recyclats de polystyrène (PS)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 15342:2025
ICS:
13.030.50 Recikliranje Recycling
83.080.20 Plastomeri Thermoplastic materials
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EN 15342
EUROPEAN STANDARD
NORME EUROPÉENNE
June 2025
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 13.030.50 Supersedes EN 15342:2007
English Version
Plastics - Recycled plastics - Characterization of
polystyrene (PS) recyclates
Plastiques - Plastiques recyclés - Caractérisation des Kunststoffe - Kunststoff-Rezyklate - Charakterisierung
recyclats de polystyrène (PS) von Polystyrol (PS)-Rezyklaten
This European Standard was approved by CEN on 28 April 2025.

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. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references
concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN
member.
This European Standard exists 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.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2025 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. EN 15342:2025 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 7
4 Symbols and abbreviations . 8
5 Characterization of PS recyclates . 8
6 Quality assurance . 12
Annex A (normative) Test Method for the determination of bulk density . 13
A.1 General. 13
A.2 Material . 13
A.3 Apparatus . 13
A.4 Preparation of test sample . 14
A.5 Procedure . 14
A.6 Expression of results . 15
A.7 Test report . 15
Bibliography . 16

European foreword
This document (EN 15342:2025) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 249 “Plastics”, the
secretariat of which is held by SIS.
This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an
identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by December 2025, and conflicting national standards shall
be withdrawn at the latest by December 2025.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This document supersedes EN 15342:2007.
This document includes the following significant changes with respect to EN 15342:2007:
— Scope has been clarified;
— Normative references have been updated;
— Terms and definitions have been updated. In Clause 3, reference to EN 17615 has been added;
— Clause 4 “Symbols and abbreviations” has been added;
— Clause 5 “Characterization of PS recyclates” (formerly Clause 4) and Table 1 “Characterization of PS
recyclates” have been completely revised;
— In Clause 6 “Quality assurance” (formerly Clause 5) requirement regarding traceability has been
added;
— Annex A: Content of test report has been changed;
— Bibliography was updated.
This document is part of CEN publications on plastics recycling, listed 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 — Characterization of Polyethylene (PE) recyclates
— EN 15345, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Characterization of Polypropylene (PP) recyclates
— EN 15346, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Characterization of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) recyclates
— EN 15347 (all parts), Plastics — Sorted plastics wastes
— EN 15348, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Characterization of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)
recyclates
— EN 18064 (all parts), Plastics —Quality recommendations and basis for specifications for application
of plastic recyclates in products
— EN 18065, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Classification of recycled plastics based on Data Quality
Levels for use and (digital) trading
— EN 18067, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Characterization of Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS)
recyclates
— CEN/TR 15353, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Guidelines for the development of standards for
recycled plastics
— CEN/TR 00249A5G , Plastics recycling — Classification of plastic recyclates as postconsumer
recyclates (PCR) and postindustrial recyclates (PIR)
This document has been prepared under a standardization request addressed to CEN and CENELEC by
the European Commission. The Standing Committee of the EFTA States subsequently approves these
requests for its Member States.
Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body.
A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.
According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the
following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: 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 the United
Kingdom.
Under preparation.
Introduction
Recycling of plastics waste is one type of material recovery process intended to save resources (virgin
raw materials, water, and energy), while minimizing harmful emissions into air, water and soil. The
environmental impact of recycling is 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:
— 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;
— 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 to society.
This document has been produced in accordance with the guidance produced by CEN on Environmental
Aspects and in accordance with CEN/TR 15353.
NOTE CEN/TR 15353 considers the general environmental aspects which are specific to the recycling process.
During their use phase, products are temporarily out of industrial control. Consequently, at the end user
stage, it is often impossible to trace back each individual product and whether it has been used correctly
through its life cycle.
1 Scope
This document specifies the main characteristics and associated test methods for assessing of
polystyrene (PS) recyclates intended for use in the production of semi-finished/finished products.
It is intended to support parties involved in the use of PS recyclates to agree on specifications for specific
and generic applications.
This document does not cover the characterization of plastics wastes, which is covered by the
EN 15347 series, neither traceability topics which are covered by EN 15343.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of 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.
ASTM D1895, Standard Test Methods for Apparent Density, Bulk Factor, and Pourability of Plastic Materials
CEN/TR 15353, Plastics — Recycled plastics — Guidelines for the development of standards for recycled
plastics
EN 15343, Plastics — Recycled Plastics — Plastics recycling traceability and assessment of conformity and
recycled content
EN 17615, Plastics — Environmental Aspects — Vocabulary
EN ISO 60, Plastics — Determination of apparent density of material that can be poured from a specified
funnel (ISO 60)
EN ISO 179-1, Plastics — Determination of Charpy impact properties — Part 1: Non-instrumented impact
test (ISO 179-1)
EN ISO 179-2, Plastics — Determination of Charpy impact properties — Part 2: Instrumented impact test
(ISO 179-2)
EN ISO 180, Plastics — Determination of Izod impact strength (ISO 180)
EN ISO 472, Plastics — Vocabulary (ISO 472)
EN ISO 527-1, Plastics — Determination of tensile properties — Part 1: General principles (ISO 527-1)
EN ISO 527-2, Plastics — Determination of tensile properties — Part 2: Test conditions for moulding and
extrusion plastics (ISO 527-2)
EN ISO 527-3, Plastics — Determination of tensile properties — Part 3: Test conditions for films and sheets
(ISO 527-3)
EN ISO 527-4, Plastics — Determination of tensile properties — Part 4: Test conditions for isotropic and
orthotropic fibre-reinforced plastic composites (ISO 527-4)
EN ISO 1043-1, Plastics — Symbols and abbreviated terms — Part 1: Basic polymers and their special
characteristics (ISO 1043-1)
EN ISO 1133-1, Plastics — Determination of the melt mass-flow rate (MFR) and melt volume-flow rate
(MVR) of thermoplastics — Part 1: Standard method (ISO 1133-1)
EN ISO 1133-2, Plastics — Determination of the melt mass-flow rate (MFR) and melt volume-flow rate
(MVR) of thermoplastics — Part 2: Method for materials sensitive to time-temperature history and/or
moisture (ISO 1133-2)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in EN ISO 472, EN 17615 and
CEN/TR 15353 and the following 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/
3.1
general purpose polystyrene
GPPS
synthetic polymer made by polymerization of styrene, which is clear, hard, and brittle, and can be colored
with colorants
Note 1 to entry: Examples of products made from GPPS are protective packaging, containers, lids and trays.
3.2
high impact polystyrene
HIPS
synthetic polymer made by polymerization of styrene, where in the polymerization process, a small
amount of rubber is added and it is opaque, hard, and tough, and can be colored with colorants
Note 1 to entry: Examples of products made from HIPS are dairy packaging, refrigerat
...