Argentina's recycled plastic content certification: how INTI-ECOPLAS turns recycled content into traceable records

In Argentina, recycled plastic content may look like a narrow topic compared with larger debates about circular economy or packaging regulation. The INTI-ECOPLAS protocol is useful because it is specific: it shows how a recycled-content claim becomes a set of auditable material records.

The central point is not whether a product says "recycled". The protocol organizes the claim around a minimum percentage, identification of recycled material, origin, polymer type, purchase records, production records and mass balance. In that structure, recycled content becomes a material statement rather than a marketing phrase.

What INTI-ECOPLAS certifies

The recycled plastic content certification protocol was developed by INTI together with ECOPLAS. Its purpose is to certify recycled plastic content in plastic products, with a defined scope for the evaluated product or product family.

The certification does not replace every other technical control. It is not a universal assessment of performance, safety or suitability for every application. Its specific function is to support a statement about how much recycled plastic material is present in the certified product.

The 15% threshold

One of the protocol's most concrete facts is the minimum threshold. To qualify for the certification, a product must contain at least 15% recycled plastic material.

That threshold prevents the certification from becoming a loose environmental reference. It defines a minimum boundary for entering the scheme. Below that level, the product does not fit this specific certification mechanism.

The protocol also frames the calculation as a relationship between recycled plastic material in the product and total plastic material in the product. In practical terms, recycled content stops being a phrase and becomes dependent on quantities and records.

Traceability as a chain of facts

The most important part of the protocol is not only the percentage. It is traceability. To support a recycled-content claim, the information has to connect the material entering the system with the product leaving it.

The protocol refers to information such as suppliers, material type, lot identification, quantities, receiving records and production documentation. Together, these elements make it possible to reconstruct the route of recycled material inside the production system.

The implication is specific: recycled content is not presented as an abstract quality of the product. It is presented as a relationship between input materials, processes and finished product.

Mass balance connects input and output

When recycled material enters mixing, extrusion, conversion or article manufacturing, it is not always possible to physically follow every particle into every finished unit. That is why mass balance becomes central.

In this context, mass balance is not an advertising argument. It is the mechanism that compares inputs, outputs, stock and production to support whether the declared percentage is compatible with actual material movements.

The value of the system lies in that documentation discipline: recycled content becomes verifiable because it is linked to masses, lots and production, not only to commercial description.

Why INTI-CAIRPLAS is a different piece

The INTI-CAIRPLAS protocol covers another part of the chain: plastic material recycling companies. Its focus is the recycling process itself, including steps such as reception, sorting, size reduction, washing, drying, extrusion or pelletizing, depending on the operation.

For a standard supplier, INTI-CAIRPLAS certification is recommended but not mandatory. For materials with special traceability requirements, such as food-contact materials or material from empty phytosanitary containers, the supplier must meet at least one of the requirements set out in the protocol.

That is not the same as certifying recycled content in a final product. INTI-CAIRPLAS looks at recycler processes and capabilities; INTI-ECOPLAS looks at the recycled-content claim in products or product families.

The distinction may appear small, but it is materially important. One certification relates to how recycled material is processed; the other relates to how much of that material appears in the certified product.

Food contact is a separate validation

Recycled content also does not automatically mean suitability for food contact. In its English institutional material, INTI separates services related to food-contact plastics, chemical, thermal and physical-mechanical characterization, and decontamination technologies for post-consumer PET.

That separation prevents a common confusion. A material may have certified recycled content and still require another validation for a sensitive use. For food packaging in particular, recycled content and food contact suitability are different technical questions.

What this case shows

The Argentine case is useful precisely because it is small. It does not show a grand industrial policy. It shows a specific mechanism for organizing a material claim.

INTI-ECOPLAS turns recycled content into a data chain: minimum percentage, polymer, supplier, lot, mass, process and product. That is the part that matters for materials markets. The conversation shifts from "contains recycled plastic" to "how that content is proven and within which certified boundary".

References

• INTI-ECOPLAS: Recycled plastic content certification protocol
• INTI-CAIRPLAS: Protocol for plastic material recycling companies
• Argentina.gob.ar: INTI plastics services
• INTI English institutional material, 2025