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The recyclability certification scheme for food and beverage cartons, operated by the Food & Beverage Carton Alliance. CIRCPACK is an accredited certifying body.
RECY:CHECK is an initiative of the Food & Beverage Carton Alliance, the European industry body for food and beverage cartons. It defines a uniform recyclability methodology for gable-top, aseptic and other carton formats.
CIRCPACK is an accredited certifying body authorised to issue RECY:CHECK certificates. The methodology is aligned with EN 13430:2004 and uses the same four-pillar assessment backbone of Collection, Sorting, Reprocessing and Application.
We perform the independent audit and run the operational and laboratory tests when needed.
The three RECY:CHECK certificates available:
Letter of Compatibility: For semi-finished packaging whose design is still subject to change, i.e. components without final artwork. It confirms compatibility of the component with the beverage-carton recycling stream against the FBCA Design for Recycling Guidelines. Intended for business-to-business communication.
Design for Recycling Certificate: For finished packaging as placed on the market. It assigns a qualitative recyclability class from A to C, or non-recyclable, plus the assessment of the recyclable content, based on the FBCA Design for Recycling Guidelines. Communication is allowed in B2B and corporate channels (press, web, social).
Recyclability Certificate: For finished packaging assessed for a specific country. It provides an effective recyclability rate, expressed as a percentage, plus a class score of A to C or non-recyclable.
Which certificate is appropriate depends on the maturity of the packaging design, the geography in scope, and the type of claim you intend to make. We can advise on the right pathway before the audit.
RECY:CHECK covers food and beverage cartons. For plastic packaging see RecyClass, and for glass, metals, paper and cardboard see CERTIFY.
Four-pillar assessment specific to food and beverage carton structure.
Layer structure (paperboard, polymer film, aluminium foil), closure, label and ink system. We map every component to the RECY:CHECK assessment criteria.
Sorting tests in an operational MRF to confirm how the carton is captured and separated. For novel materials, we also run a CEPI pulping test to measure fibre recovery yield and reject composition.
Downstream fibre quality, polyAl recovery route, and end-application check. We confirm the recovered streams have a defined market outlet across target EU geographies.
Carton receives a RECY:CHECK class result with the supporting evidence package, signed by CIRCPACK and recognised across the Food & Beverage Carton Alliance member network.
Beverage brands, dairy and plant-based manufacturers, and carton converters that need a defensible recyclability claim for food and beverage cartons sold in the EU.
Validate green claims on shelf and feed eco-modulation submissions across multiple EU markets.
Demonstrate design-for-recycling to your beverage customers with a third-party-signed certificate.
Cover your own-label juice, dairy and plant-drink ranges under one scheme.
Send us your packaging spec and we'll come back within three business days with a scoped quote, methodology and timeline.
All food and beverage carton formats fall within the RECY:CHECK scope: aseptic, gable-top and brick. Adjacent fibre-based primaries that are not cartons fall under CERTIFY instead.
The Food & Beverage Carton Alliance maintains a small list of organisations authorised to issue RECY:CHECK certificates. CIRCPACK is one of them, vetted on methodology, auditor capability and independence.
Three years from issue, assuming the packaging specification and the relevant guideline version are unchanged. Material redesigns trigger a re-evaluation.