Glossary

Definitions for the terms used throughout the Atlas. Where a term has a formal definition in a standard or statute, the entry follows that source and cites it. Where usage varies, the entry says so. Cross-references in italics point to other entries.

A–C

Access (to recycling) — The share of a population for whom collection for recycling is available; the quantity behind thresholds such as the US Federal Trade Commission's "substantial majority… at least 60 percent" test for unqualified recyclable claims (16 CFR § 260.12) and California's 60 per cent population criteria (Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 42355.51). Access measures the offer of collection, not whether material is collected, sorted, or actually reprocessed — three further steps on which access figures are silent.

ARL (Australasian Recycling Label) — The evidence-based disposal label operated by APCO with Planet Ark and PREP Design, with three states: Recyclable, Conditionally Recyclable, and Not Recyclable (UNEP and Consumers International, 2021).

Biodegradable — Capable of being broken down by microorganisms. Without specification of the environment in which breakdown occurs and the timeframe over which it occurs, the term identifies no testable property of a package, and several regimes restrict its use: unqualified degradability claims are constrained under the FTC's Green Guides, and marks such as OK compost HOME expressly may not be used to claim degradation in soil or water (TÜV Austria, 2024). Compare Compostable, which is defined against specific standards.

Certification mark — A mark whose display is licensed by a scheme owner conditional on audited conformity with a published standard — e.g. the Seedling, OK compost, BPI, FSC and PEFC marks, all of which require a valid certificate and licence for any use (European Bioplastics, n.d.; TÜV Austria, 2024; BPI, n.d.; FSC, 2021; PEFC, n.d.). Contrast Trademark licence mark.

Chain of custody — The documented pathway of certified material through a supply chain, required by sourcing certifications such as FSC and PEFC before their labels may be applied (FSC, 2021; PEFC, n.d.).

Chasing arrows — The colloquial name for the triangular recycling symbol, designed in 1970 and never successfully trademarked, leaving it free for any use (Recycling symbol, 2026). Its enclosure of resin-code numerals — a design most US state statutes still specify (Plastics Industry Association, 2022) — is identified by the US National Academies as a significant cause of consumer misunderstanding of recyclability (National Academies, 2025).

Compostable — Certified to disintegrate and biodegrade under defined composting conditions within a defined time, against standards such as EN 13432 (industrial, Europe) or ASTM D6400/D6868 (North America). "Industrially compostable" and "home compostable" are distinct certified properties; neither implies the other. Contrast Biodegradable.

Conformity assessment — The process (testing, audit, certification) by which a product is shown to meet a standard; the machinery that separates certified claims from self-declared ones.

D–G

Deposit return system (DRS) — A system in which a refundable deposit is charged on a container and repaid on return, typically requiring its own on-pack marking readable by return infrastructure — e.g. Germany's DPG mark in security ink (DPG, n.d.).

Ecolabel — Under ISO 14020:2022, an "environmental statement which indicates a product fulfils the criteria of an ecolabelling programme" — the preferred term for what was formerly called a Type I environmental label, a designation the standard now marks as deprecated (ISO, 2022, cl. 3.2.7).

Environmental product declaration (EPD) — A quantified, life-cycle-based environmental disclosure verified under an EPD programme; the instrument formerly designated Type III (ISO, 2022, cl. 3.2.8).

Environmental statement — ISO's umbrella term: "information on one or more environmental aspect(s) or environmental impact(s) of a product, which intends to inform an intended audience and intends to influence the market" (ISO, 2022, cl. 3.2.1).

EPR (extended producer responsibility) — The policy approach making producers financially or operationally responsible for their products' end-of-life management. EPR generates fees, registration numbers, and sometimes participation marks — but an EPR mark records scheme membership, not any property of the package. See Green Dot.

Generic environmental claim — Under EU law, an environmental claim "made in written or oral form" that is not on a sustainability label and "where the specification of the claim is not provided in clear and prominent terms on the same medium" — e.g. "eco-friendly" or "green" standing alone; making one without demonstrable recognised excellent environmental performance is a per se unfair commercial practice (Directive (EU) 2024/825).

Green Dot — The trademark registered in 1990 by Duales System Deutschland and licensed across Europe by PRO EUROPE since 1995, indicating "that a financial contribution has been paid to a nationally authorised take-back system"; in its owner's words, "a financing symbol and not an environmental symbol" (PRO EUROPE, n.d.).

Greenwashing — Communication that creates a misleading impression of environmental benefit. Not a term of art in most statutes; the operative legal concepts are misleading actions/omissions under consumer law and the specific blacklisted practices added by Directive (EU) 2024/825.

H–O

Harmonised label — A label whose form and meaning are fixed uniformly across jurisdictions by a single legal instrument, as Regulation (EU) 2025/40 will do for EU packaging from August 2028 (Regulation (EU) 2025/40, recital 74). Contrast the voluntary identification system of Decision 97/129/EC it replaces.

Mandatory mark — A mark whose presence is legally required, with the obligation resting on a named party (often the container manufacturer or importer rather than the brand owner, as in Japan; METI, n.d.). Mandatory marks are legal notices, not claims, and fall outside the EU's definition of a sustainability label (Directive (EU) 2024/825).

Mass balance — A chain-of-custody accounting method in which certified input (e.g. chemically recycled feedstock) is attributed to outputs across a production system, so that a package may carry a recycled-content figure without containing physically traceable recycled molecules. Distinct from segregated content, where certified material is kept physically separate. The permissible labeling of mass-balance content remains a contested question in the regulation of content claims.

Material identification code — A mark identifying what a package is made of — resin codes, EU abbreviations and numbers (Decision 97/129/EC), Japan's statutory marks — asserting material identity only. The resin code standard is explicit: the codes "are not 'recycle codes'" (ASTM International, n.d.).

Mobius loop — The three-arrow recycling symbol as used in self-declared claims under ISO 14021: alone, a recyclability claim; with a percentage figure, a recycled-content claim (ISO, 1999, cl. 7.7.3.3, 7.8.3.2).

MRF (materials recovery facility) — A facility that sorts commingled recyclables into marketable streams; the point at which material set out in response to a sorting label either enters a recycling stream or is rejected from one.

OPRL — The voluntary disposal-labeling scheme covering most of the UK grocery market, founded 2009 by the British Retail Consortium and Food and Drink Federation with WRAP; binary Recycle (≥75% of local authorities collect) / Do Not Recycle (<50%) labels (OPRL, n.d.).

P–R

Participation mark — See System-participation mark.

PCR / post-consumer recycled material — Material recovered after use by end consumers, as distinct from PIR / pre-consumer (post-industrial) material, recovered from manufacturing waste streams that never reached a consumer. Recycled-content claims that aggregate the two without disclosure are a recurrent enforcement target; several mandates count only post-consumer material.

PRO (producer responsibility organisation) — The body through which producers collectively discharge EPR obligations. PROs are fee collectors and system operators; some also own or license marks (see Green Dot).

Recyclable — A claim about end-of-life possibility whose operative threshold is set separately by each jurisdiction and each scheme. In the US, unqualified use requires facilities available to at least 60 per cent of consumers or communities (16 CFR § 260.12); in the UK's OPRL scheme, "Recycle" requires 75 per cent local-authority collection (OPRL, n.d.); in California, recyclability signifiers are statutorily restricted (Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 42355.51). The same package can therefore satisfy the conditions for the description "recyclable" in one market and fail to satisfy them in another. Contrast Recycled.

Recycled / recycled content — A claim about origin: the share of the package made from recovered material. Expressed in ISO 14021 symbolism as the Mobius loop with a percentage (ISO, 1999, cl. 7.8.3.2). A package can be 100 per cent recycled and unrecyclable, or virgin and fully recyclable — the two claims are independent.

Resin identification code (RIC) — The 1–7 polymer code created by the Society of the Plastics Industry in 1988, standardised as ASTM D7611 from 2010, and required by 36 US states (ASTM International, 2010; Plastics Industry Association, 2022). See Material identification code.

Restricted mark/claim — One whose use is what the law constrains: the Green Guides' qualification requirements, California's deemed-deceptive provision, and the EU blacklist's prohibitions on uncertified sustainability labels and unsubstantiated generic claims (16 CFR § 260.12; Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 42355.51; Directive (EU) 2024/825).

S–Z

Self-declared environmental claim — An environmental statement made by the responsible party without independent certification — the instrument formerly designated Type II, a term ISO now deprecates (ISO, 2022, cl. 3.2.6). Governed by ISO 14021's conditions and, in practice, by national claims law.

Sustainability label — In EU law, "any voluntary trust mark, quality mark or equivalent, either public or private, that aims to set apart and promote a product, a process or a business by reference to its environmental or social characteristics", excluding mandatory labels; displaying one "not based on a certification scheme or not established by public authorities" is per se unfair (Directive (EU) 2024/825). The exclusions from this legal term are extensive: material codes, mandated pictograms, deposit marks and financing symbols all fall outside it and are therefore untouched by the prohibition it carries.

System-participation mark — A mark recording membership of a scheme — EPR financing (Green Dot), deposit systems (DPG, pant marks) — rather than any property of the package. Marks in this family are commonly misread as environmental claims, since what they record is a financing or contractual relationship between the producer and a scheme.

Trademark licence mark — A protected sign licensed for display on conditions set by its owner, where the conditions do not include audited product conformity — e.g. the Green Dot (payment) or the Tidyman (Keep Britain Tidy's licensing) (PRO EUROPE, n.d.; Keep Britain Tidy, n.d.). Contrast Certification mark.

Type I / II / III — The retired designations for ecolabels, self-declared claims and environmental product declarations respectively: formally deprecated in ISO 14020:2022 and removed from the standards' titles in their 2026 editions, while remaining in wide practical use (ISO, 2022; see the ISO article).

Voluntary mark — A mark no law requires. Voluntariness describes legal form, not practical freedom: where a scheme covers most of a market — OPRL's 750-plus members in UK grocery (OPRL, n.d.) — non-participation may be commercially unavailable.

References

ASTM International (2010) 'Resin identification', Standardization News. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

ASTM International (n.d.) ASTM D7611/D7611M. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

BPI (n.d.) Using the BPI mark. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 42355.51. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

Commission Decision 97/129/EC. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

Directive (EU) 2024/825, OJ L, 2024/825, 6.3.2024. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

DPG (n.d.) About DPG. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

European Bioplastics (n.d.) Guidelines for the use of the Seedling logo. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

FSC (2021) FSC-STD-50-001 V2-1. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

International Organization for Standardization (1999) ISO 14021:1999. Geneva: ISO.

International Organization for Standardization (2022) ISO 14020:2022 Environmental statements and programmes for products — Principles and general requirements. Geneva: ISO. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

Keep Britain Tidy (n.d.) Brand licensing. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

METI (n.d.) Identification marks on containers and packaging. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2025) Municipal Solid Waste Recycling in the United States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi:10.17226/27978.

OPRL (n.d.) How the scheme works and About OPRL. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

PEFC (n.d.) Use the PEFC label. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

Plastics Industry Association (2022) State Resin Identification Regulation Survey. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

PRO EUROPE (n.d.) The Green Dot trademark. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

Recycling symbol (2026) Wikipedia. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

Regulation (EU) 2025/40, OJ L, 2025/40, 22.1.2025. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

TÜV Austria (2024) CS-OK02: Certification scheme, OK compost HOME. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

UNEP and Consumers International (2021) Australasian Recycling Label case study. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

16 CFR § 260.12. Available at: Open source (Accessed: 17 August 2026).

Note on sources and verification

ISO 14020:2022 definitions are quoted from the publicly posted sample preview of the standard; ISO 14021 clause numbers are from the 1999 edition. Definitions without citations — MRF, chain of custody in its generic sense, mass balance, PCR/PIR — reflect standard industry usage rather than a single defining instrument; where a regime defines them differently (as recycled-content mandates do for PCR), the market page governs. This glossary will grow as articles are added; terms are included when an article needs them.

Last verified: 17 August 2026.