SIST EN 18120-14:2026

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-junij-2026
Embalaža - Načrtovanje za recikliranje plastične embalaže - 14. del: Postopek za
ocenjevanje zmožnosti recikliranja plastične embalaže - Protokoli za togo
embalažo iz polistirena (PS) in ekstrudiranega polistirena (XPS)
Packaging - Design for recycling of plastic packaging - Part 14: Recyclability evaluation
process for plastic packaging - Protocols for PS and XPS rigid packaging
Verpackung - Recyclingorientierte Gestaltung von Kunststoffverpackungsprodukten - Teil
14 - Verfahren zur Bewertung der Recyclingfähigkeit von Kunststoffverpackungen -
Protokolle für Verpackungen aus PS und XPS
Emballages - Conception des emballages plastiques en vue de leur recyclage - Partie 14
: Processus d’évaluation de la recyclabilité des emballages plastiques - Protocoles pour
les emballages en PS et XPS
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 18120-14:2026
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.

EN 18120-14
EUROPEAN STANDARD
NORME EUROPÉENNE
April 2026
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 13.030.50; 55.020
English Version
Packaging - Design for recycling of plastic packaging - Part
14: Recyclability evaluation process for plastic packaging -
Protocols for PS and XPS rigid packaging
Emballages - Conception des emballages plastiques en Verpackung - Recyclingorientierte Gestaltung von
vue de leur recyclage - Partie 14 : Processus Kunststoffverpackungsprodukten - Teil 14 - Verfahren
d'évaluation de la recyclabilité des emballages zur Bewertung der Recyclingfähigkeit von
plastiques - Protocoles pour les emballages en PS et Kunststoffverpackungen - Protokolle für Verpackungen
XPS aus PS und XPS
This European Standard was approved by CEN on 9 February 2026.

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
© 2026 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. EN 18120-14:2026 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 Recyclability evaluation process . 7
4.1 Principle . 7
4.2 Applicable unit operations . 7
4.3 Applicable unit operations depending on packaging type . 9
4.4 Test procedures . 10
4.4.1 Pretreatment – Grinding . 10
4.4.2 Pretreatment – Washing . 10
4.4.3 Pretreatment – Floatation . 11
4.4.4 Pretreatment – Air elutriation . 12
4.4.5 Pretreatment – Drying . 12
4.4.6 Flake blends preparation and composition . 12
4.4.7 Extrusion - Pellet characterization . 13
4.4.8 Converting – Injection moulding and plates characterization . 14
4.4.9 Converting – pellet blends preparation . 15
Annex A (informative) Virgin samples selection . 17
Bibliography . 18

European foreword
This document (EN 18120-14:2026) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 261
“Packaging”, the secretariat of which is held by AFNOR.
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 October 2026, and conflicting national standards shall
be withdrawn at the latest by October 2026.
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 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.
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.
Introduction
The EN 18120 series, under the general title Packaging — Design for recycling of plastic packaging, which
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, consists of the following parts:
— Part 1: Definitions and principles for design-for-recycling of plastic packaging
— Part 3: Evaluation processes for the sortability of plastic packaging
— Part 4: Guideline for PET bottles
— Part 5: Guideline for PET rigid packaging (except bottles)
— Part 6: Guideline for PE and PP rigid packaging
— Part 7: Guideline for PE and PP flexible packaging
— Part 8: Guideline for PS and XPS rigid 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 rigid packaging
(except bottles)
— 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 rigid
packaging
— Part 15: Recyclability evaluation process for plastic packaging — Protocols for EPS packaging
Design for recycling guidelines are a common way of evaluating the compatibility with plastic-packaging
collection, sorting and recycling which enables the use of secondary raw materials that are of sufficient
quality when compared to the original material, in state-of-the-art facilities.
They provide guidance on the level of compatibility, defined as:
— green: packaging constituents and components with full compatibility with state-of-the-art
collection, sorting and recycling;
— yellow: packaging constituents and components with limited compatibility with state-of-the-art
collection, sorting and recycling;
— red: packaging constituents and components which are not compatible with state-of-the-art
collection, sorting and recycling.
The design for recycling guidelines provided in the EN 18120 series cover the design for recycling based
on the knowledge available at the time of the development of this document and are representative of the
state-of-the-art. They consider packaging waste collection, sorting and recycling, so that the recycled
plastic can substitute primary raw materials in packaging application or other applications. Compliance
with the design guidelines in the EN 18120 series does not guarantee that the recycled plastic quality will
be fit for purpose for a specific targeted end application or compliant with applicable regulations.
Packaging recyclability is the combination of design of recycling, proven collection, sorting and recycling
in practice.
1 Scope
This document provides requirements for the evaluation process of any rigid packaging with the main
body of the packaging unit predominantly made of PS or XPS and the design of separate components
predominantly made of rigid PS or XPS, with respect to compatibility of the design with state-of-the-art
collecting, sorting and recycling processes, and the characterization of the output(s) compared to a
reference material.
Packaging constituents and packaging components made of other materials than PS and XPS are also
covered by this document as they need to be evaluated on compatibility with PS or XPS polymer recycling.
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.
EN 18120-1, Packaging — Design for recycling of plastic packaging — Part 1: Definitions and principles for
design-for-recycling of plastic packaging
EN ISO 527-2, Plastics — Determination of tensile properties — Part 2: Test conditions for moulding and
extrusion plastics (ISO 527-2)
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 1183-1, Plastics — Methods for determining the density of non-cellular plastics — Part 1: Immersion
method, liquid pycnometer method and titration method (ISO 1183-1)
EN ISO 3451-1, Plastics — Determination of ash — Part 1: General methods (ISO 3451-1)
EN ISO 11358-1, Plastics — Thermogravimetry (TG) of polymers — Part 1: General principles
(ISO 11358-1)
EN ISO 178, Plastics — Determination of flexural properties (ISO 178)
EN ISO 179-1, Plastics — Determination of Charpy impact properties — Part 1: Non-instrumented impact
test (ISO 179-1)
EN ISO 18314-1, Analytical colorimetry — Part 1: Practical colour measurement (ISO 18314-1)
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in EN 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 Recyclability evaluation process
4.1 Principle
This document provides a method of evaluating the technical recyclability of a rigid PS or XPS packaging
sample in alignment with the state-of-the art defined in part 1: Definitions and principles for design-for-
recycling of plastic packaging. The results characterize both the processability of the sample as well as
the quality of the recycled plastic.
Depending on the choice of the sample, the method can either provide a technical recyclability
determination for a given packaging design or item, or it can be employed to selectively study the impact
of individual design elements in PS or XPS rigid plastic packaging on technical recyclability. The latter
approach may be employed to generate data for the updating of design for recycling guidelines.
The test method follows the steps (unit operations) that occur in a recycling process for rigid PS or XPS
packaging and seeks to simulate each operation on a laboratory scale. If one or more operational unit
item is tested leveraging a pilot line or an industrial line this is also permitted as long as the operation
tested is representative to the state-of-the-art technologies as described in EN 18120-1.
The goal of the evaluation process is to identify all foreseeable critical points and establish a testing
strategy that either confirms or excludes a negative impact for each critical point considered. The testing
strategy may only use some of the test described below, if the tested innovation is known to have no
impacts on some unit operations in terms of processing and recyclate quality. The sample size to be tested
is also part of the testing strategy definition. The reasoning for the testing strategy deployed shall be
described in the test report
The final test report shall include all relevant information related to:
— the complete identification of the tested innovation;
— a description of its intended use of the innovation and assumed market penetration;
— the testing strategy reasoning and description;
— information necessary for the complete identification of the control material and virgin resin used
for the tests;
— the relevant information on characterization and assessment from 4.4.7, 4.4.8 and 4.4.9.
— any deviations from the testing procedure, and from the benchmark recommended values, and the
reasons for these deviations;
— all relevant elements used to support assessment;
— final conclusion and result of assessment.
4.2 Applicable unit operations
See Table 1 for description of applicable unit operations.
Table 1 — High level process description
Step # Unit operation High level process description Reference test
procedures
0 Control material For the purposes of this document, at least /
selection 25 kg of a suitable control material is required.
The control material can be selected from:
Option 1: An item made from a virgin PS resin
or resin blend. The chosen resin or resin blend
shall be extruded and converted in rigid items
at conditions resembling commercial practices
to obtain the control material. A control
material selection can be found in Annex A,
Table A.1
Option 2: A PS item which is known to be
recyclable according to Part 8 of this series of
standards and consisting of the same base PS
resin or resin blend as the test sample.
Option 3: a PS material flow from a recycler
representative to the state-of-the-art
technologies as described in EN 18120-1
1 Pretreatment: flakes preparation - This step simulates the preparation of PS and XPS flakes
1.1 Pretreatment: Control and evaluated application PS or XPS 4.4.1
grinding samples are separately ground in order to fit
Pretreatment –
the throat of a standard laboratory extruder. If
grinding
possible, it is recommended to use a granulator
rather than a grinder or shredder.
1.2 Pretreatment: Control and evaluated application PS or XPS 4.4.2Pretreatment –
washing samples are separately washed to test the washing
impact on wet washing operations. The
procedures take care of labels, adhesives,
coatings, paper and printing present in the
evaluated application PS sample. If none of
those are present, go directly to separation by
density (floatation).
Washing conditions to be tested shall be
different depending on packaging type. See
Table 2 to identify the relevant conditions
1.3 Pretreatment: Following the washing, the floatation process 4.4.3
floatation allows flake separation by density as occurring
Pretreatment -
in the float/sink.
floatation
Floatation tests shall be different depending on
packaging type. See Table 2 to
...