Testing Protocol
European laboratory procedures for paper-based packaging recyclability verify how paperboard products behave during industrial processing. The cepi recyclability test v2 determines the breakdown of fibers and the separation of non-paper elements during pulping. It evaluates coarse rejects, macrostickies, and overall yield to determine if a package is suitable for standard recycling mills.
This protocol sets a standardized baseline across the continent to ensure packaging designers can prove compliance with recovery requirements.
Pulping Simulation
Low-consistency disintegration mimics the shear forces found in standard industrial pulpers during the initial stage of the evaluation. In this phase, the cepi recyclability test v2 applies specific agitation times of exactly ten minutes to samples of paperboard to separate fiber from coatings or plastic laminates. Disintegrated material then passes through screens with a slot width of one hundred and fifty micrometres to isolate unpulped flakes that would otherwise reduce the efficiency of a recycling plant.
The dry weight of these retained flakes quantifies how easily the fiber separates under standard conditions. If a large portion of the material remains on the screen as flakes, the package requires higher energy or chemicals to process, which suggests it is poorly suited for conventional paper recycling streams.
Sticky Quantification
Insoluble adhesive components and polymeric coatings pose major challenges during paperboard reprocessing. When the cepi recyclability test v2 measures these substances, it routes the screened slurry through fine slits to capture stickies that would otherwise clog forming fabrics or press felts. Deposited residues are transferred to paper filter sheets and stained to measure their total surface area.
Packaging materials that produce large areas of adhesive residue fail the test because they cause web breaks and product defects during papermaking.
