Hi Kay,

The answer is "it depends". Depending on the type of product you are producing, where you are located, and your target market for sales, there are different requirements for certifying post consumer recycled content products. If your customers are state agencies, federal agencies or schools, you may have different hoops to jump through.

In California, "Public Contract Codes require every supplier to certify the minimum, if not the exact, postconumer-content in the products, materials, goods, and supplies offered or sold to the State."

Schools may have lists of products that are acceptable based on their recycled content percentages.

Unfortunately, in many categories of products, there is no single authorization body that oversees or provides certification of post consumer recycled content. Also, lists of approved recycled content vendors or products and the requirements for inclusion on that list may not be consistent whatsoever with the next list.

A third party certification, such as MDBC's Cradle to Cradle certification, provides a rigorous standard for evaluating the total impact a product has on its environment from its start (manufacture) to finish (end of life). The calculation they use for material reutilization is comprised of a score which must be reached for different levels of their C2C certification:

Material Reutilization Score
= [( % Recyclable/Compostable Content X 2) + ( % Recycled/Renewable Content X 1)] / 3

• At the Silver level, the score must be >=50
• At the Gold level, the score must be >=65
• At the Platinum level, the score must be >=80

hope this helps...