Paperboard Recycled Content Verification Essentials for Retail Compliance
Recycled paperboard verification requires valid chain of custody certificates, mass balance ledgers, and lab migration test reports to clear retail compliance.
Macro-Stickies ISO 15360-2
Contaminant Quantification
Standardized pulp assessment specifies the laboratory procedure for determining the total area and particle count of tacky organic contaminants retained on a slotted laboratory screen. Testing for macro-stickies ISO 15360-2 targets residual hot melts, pressure-sensitive adhesives, latexes and wax fragments present in recycled pulp slurries. The standard provides a repeatable method to measure contamination levels that disrupt paper machine runnability and print quality.
Screening Protocol
Laboratory technicians disintegrate recycled paper samples in water and pass the slurry through a Somerville or Haindl screen equipped with 100-micrometre or 150-micrometre slots. Retained solids are collected onto filter paper and transferred under controlled heat and pressure onto specialized donor sheets. Contrasting dye applications or silicone-treated release papers render the sticky particles optically distinct from residual fibres and shives.
Image analysis software scans the prepared filter, calculating the total stickies surface area expressed in square millimetres per kilogram of oven-dry pulp. Particles smaller than 100 micrometres bypass the physical screen, placing them outside the classification scope of this standard.
Recycling Barrier
Mill operators rely on this diagnostic figure to evaluate screening efficiency and deinking system performance when processing recovered packaging waste. Excessive macro-stickie concentrations cause deposits on machine forming fabrics, press felts and drying cylinders, leading to web breaks and convertor rejects. The standard measures physical particulates but excludes dissolved and colloidal pitch components that precipitate under thermal or chemical shifts.
The measurement establishes the operational cleanliness of secondary fiber furnish intended for food-grade and folding boxboard manufacturing.