The Consumer 

Goods Forum

Biodegradable 

Products 

Institute

Array of 

National 

Standards 

Bodies

American 

Chemistry 

Council

United Nations 

Environmental 

Assembly 

Closed Loop 

Partners

Association of 

Plastics 

Recyclers

GreenBlue

Environmental 

Investigation 

Agency

CEFIC

Eunomia

Industriell

Energi

D20: Plastics Committee

Sample of thought leaders and standards development organizations
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D20: Plastics Committee
THE ASK:

Understand how the plastics industry fits 

into a world committed to sustainability

Using trend information, identify 

opportunities for D20 to develop relevant 

and timely new standards

D20: Plastics Committee
Secondary Research

• Review at least 30 

reports and industry 

publications which call for 

“standards” or 

“certifications”

(March – July)

01

Qualitative Interviews

• Select 8-10 interviewees 

from report authors and 

reach out to understand the 

specifics of the ask 

(qualitative interviews)

(April – September)

02

Survey to understand 

industry needs

• Survey sent to ASTM 

participants and public 

(through LinkedIn) to 

understand industry needs

(May-August)

• Collaborate with ASTM E60 

(sustainability) to 

understand outcomes of 

recent spring workshop on 

circular economy broadly

03

Report Findings

• Trends and gaps with 

recommendations to ASTM 

D20

(October)

04

D20: Plastics Committee
The Plastics 

Industry

Infrastructure 

Improvements 

(#1)

Enabling the 

circular 

economy (#2)

Focusing on 

eliminating 

pollution or 

leakage (#3)

Building trust 

with and within 

industry (#4)

Investing in 

sustainable 

manufacturing 

(#5)

D20: Plastics Committee Survey Results
To turn this vision into reality, the industry 

should follow six key principles:

Material circularity

Materials should be recovered using high yield, material-tomaterial recycling.

Reduce, reuse, recycle

The solution should adhere to and encourage the reduction, 

reusability, and recycling of plastics packaging.

Complementary types of recycling

Enabling an integrated waste ecosystem with complementary 

roles of mechanical and molecular recycling

Environmental and social impact

Lower CO2 and other emissions impact compared to virgin 

production; technologies meet or exceed regulatory requirements 

to improve quality of life for employees and communities.

Economic viability

Recycling options should be economically efficient 

to enable the long-term success of the circular economy.

A vision for a future with full circularity 

of plastics

Fully circular 

plastics value chain 

without using virgin 

fossil feedstocks Production

Consumption

Collection

Recycling

Transparency

Claims about the different recycling technologies are clear, 

transparent, and accountable with third-party certifications.
Are there specific standards ASTM should work on?

Expand the recyclability code concept currently found on virgin materials and apply it to postconsumer resins (in concept) that have met certain performance and consistency values. 

Performance and consistency-based certification, especially for high-value applications requiring 

listings such as UL, FM, ISO, etc.

Process maps and solutions on how to take recyclables full circle. Current standards to future 

standards

Need clarity on Post Industrial Recycle vs regrind. Need standards for purity of recycled durable 

plastics

Harmonization between recycling and resin codes/symbols. Traceability of recycled content 

material inputs.

Standardized labeling (like nutrition labels) would be game changing - we need labels to be clear 

and honestly tell consumers what is recyclable and HOW recyclable it is. Plastics that are easier to 

recycle should be prioritized and manufacturers should be incentivized to use those materials.

standards for characterizing and classifying recycled natural fiber composites (or composites using 

new fillers) is paramount. Evaluating their durability and longevity will help improve such 

properties of natural fiber composites which are prone to early degradation.

Verification of recycled content of polymers. Degradation and compostabilitymethods. Varied 

approaches to analysis of microplastics.

Recovered plastics quality (or contamination). Labeling. Methods for optical or automated sorting 

of recovered plastics.

It would be great to modify some of D20 test methods for synthetic textiles. This could be done in 

collaboration with experts at D13

There could be value in creating standards around waste-to-energy, chemical recycling (pyrolysis, 

gasification, hydrolysis, etc.) and monomer purity from chemical recycling, and standards for 

plastic "cleanliness" required to use it for a particular process.

There should be a standard along the lines of NIR technology or some kind of consideration to 

product design when at its end of life is expected to be appropriately sorted- establishing a 

comprehensive and effective way to accurately sort waste would be helpful alongside guidance 

and standardization for infrastructures claiming they follow this comprehensive sorting technology; 

not just for recycling but also for composting. Many composting infrastructures are not most up to 

date in their methods and technologies- guidance on how to improve this would be useful. 

Additionally consideration to LCA but with improvements on materials that are compostable.

Covering all biodegradable standards, clarifying the recycling resin codes, assisting with definitions for 

microplastics, test methods for microplastics, working with the recycling infrastructure to develop new 

methods to ensure recycling streams are accepted, standards for design for packaging to align with 

recycling

I think it would help convince manufacturers to use more recycled feedstock if standards could 

demonstrate properties of recycled material are equal to properties of virgin materials.

Third-party assessments and certifications of industry processes must be standardized ASAP. This 

includes mass-balance schemes, recycling feedstock tracking, LCA, etc.

Defining what is circular and what is not. All too often the examples given of circularity, especially from 

the plastic industry, are not circular at all, but just add a loop or two to a line, while still producing toxic 

waste and GHG emissions. Having a standard to not allow those types of not-truly-circular economies to 

exist could be ASTM's major contribution to supporting sustainability and transitions to a circular 

economy.

1. Develop a recyclability standard for commodity polymers that mirrors and improves upon the APR 

scheme., 2. Improve testing standards and methods for home and water compostable plastics and fiber 

items. Ensure that these are science based and independent of agenda-based NGOs.

Regrind needs to go where it is best used. You don't want post consumer scrap in potable water pipe or 

blood bags

Development of a metric, or a number of metrics; a calculation for the effective reduction of specific Key 

Performance Indicators - relative to successful recycling or the effectiveness for targeted pollution 

reduction. - A testing process to compare the quality of recycled plastic, as a raw material; compared to 

the quality of a virgin plastic. The test(s) would be material specific; for each plastic type or for each 

family of plastic species. - Testing methods to be developed for determination of foreign components in 

a recycled plastic processed into a raw material. - Standards for the inclusion/allowance of chopped 

strand glass in a recycled Polypropylene. - Cutting edge awareness of new plastic recycling technologies, 

and the development of standards to measure their performance.

Standard contamination levels, particle size and shape of flake

Sustainable management, strategy and assessments for waste infrastructures. 

Labelling standards for materials perhaps in conjunction with end of life management through collection 

and sorting.

Standards for post-consumer, end of life plastics materials and their reuse.

YES!

D20: Plastics Committee Survey Results
Common Themes: Priority Actions

Fully circular 

plastics value chain 

without using virgin 

fossil feedstocks Production

Consumption

Collection

Recycling

Better Communication

Better Design

Better Pollution Prevention & 

Mitigation 

Better Infrastructure: Composting Better Infrastructure: Recycling

Better Infrastructure: 

Collection and Recovery

• Harmonization guide to ensure consistency of collection

• Feedstock qualification 

• Chain of custody and mass balance calculations 

• Types of Technology: Chemical Recycling, Physical recycling, 

Mechanical Recycling, Biological Recycling 

• Adopt green / sustainable chemistry principles

• Improvements to packaging requirements

• Phase out specific chemicals of concern

• Short-term v. long-term durable plastics

Transparency and messaging

• Terms: What is circular economy? Circular Polymers? Recycle? 

Reuse? What is a resin ID? 

• Labeling guidance on how to recycle, reuse, compost 

• Harmonize definitions of reusable packaging, including refillable 

and returnable packaging 

• [Digital] [Circular] data passport, standardization of the 

information to be collected for plastic in a circular economy

• Logistics to close loops

• Microplastics

• Industrial standards & test methods

• Test methods for research (NIST)

• Plastic Credits and Banks – Incentivizes collection

• Decommissioning, deconstructing, 

decoupling, demanufacturing

• Routing specific plastics to reuse versus 

recycle versus repurposing versus 

remanufacturing, cascading etc. 

• Guidance on slowing and closing loops

• Terms: Differences between biodegradable and 

compostable and biobased 

• Biobased plastic, definitions and test methods 

• Compost collection and sorting

• More Industrial / home composting 

• More education

D20: Plastics Committee Survey Results
ASTM D20

recently finished or is 

actively working on:

•Compostability and biodegradability

test methods and reports [D20.96 

manages ASTM D6400 with several 

others in market and more on way]

•Microplastics specifications and test 

methods [some already in development 

through D20.96, with nanoplastics on way]

•NEW! Terms and definitions for 

Circular Polymers [in development 

through D20.95, work item to be 

announced in Q1 2023]

•NEW! ISO 15270: Guide for the 

Recyclability of Plastics - Standards for 

Mechanical Recycling, Chemical 

Recycling, Biological Recycling, Physical 

Recycling [ISO 15270-4 in development 

through ANSI / ASTM D20.61 mirror 

committee]

ASTM D20

prioritized projects in Q3 

2023 and beyond: 

•Quality assurance of materials from 

mechanical, chemical or physically 

recycled plastics

•Standards related to acceptable 

levels of contamination for recycled 

or compostable material streams 

•Specifications for recycled content 

including resin ID modernization 

•Standard guide for reusing, sorting, 

recycling to improve the material 

recovery infrastructure

•Standards guide or spec for 

characteristics: measurements for 

recyclability of materials and products 

(bendability, puncturable)

ASTM D20

Other Collaborations

• With E50 -- Regarding 

environmental risk

• With D34 on waste management 

and compostables

• With ISO TC 61 (Plastics) and 

CEN TC 249 (Plastics) – On 

recyclability of plastics (ISO 

15270 etc) and as observer to 

CEN TC 249, as they tackle the 

standardization request from EU 

for recyclability standards

ASTM E60

recently finished or is 

actively working on with 

ASTM D20: 

• Alternate Approaches for 

Modeling Input and Output Flows 

of Secondary Materials and 

Related Recycling Scenarios in 

LCA including specific info for 

plastics [ASTM E3199-22A 

published in Q4 2022]

• Circular Economy Standard

[Work item 83603 announced in Q4 

2022] 

• Green chemistry principles 

guidance document

[Work is set for 2023]

NOW NEXT ACTIVE PARTNERS

D20: Plastics Committee Survey Outcomes
Fully circular 

plastics value chain 

without using virgin 

fossil feedstocks Production

Consumption

Collection

Recycling

Better Communication

Better Design

Better Pollution Prevention & 

Mitigation 

Better Infrastructure

The work is ongoing:

Join Us!