New standard on reusable plastic dishes
Continuing on from the standardisation work that began last year after the introduction of UNE 53928 “Plastics. Reusable polypropylene cups for food use. Definition and test method”, the same standardisation work group CTN 53/SC 4/GT 4 has tasked itself with introducing a new edition of this standard, however this time with the proposition of increasing its scope to include all types of reusable plastic dishes.
By developing this standard, they seek to respond to EU Directive 2019/904 of the European Parliament and Council from 5 June 2019 regarding reducing the impact of certain plastic products on the environment. This standard is in support of reducing the amount of waste generated and therefore its impact on the environment by moving on from disposable plastic dishes to reusable ones.
Reusable dishes standard
The standard in question aims to define the testing method to verify that the thermoformed and injection-moulded plastic dish can be used a minimum of five times after having been through the dishwasher.
A dish in this case can be various items: plates, cups, wine glasses, cutlery, trays, bowls etc., and it also remains open to other possible items that haven’t been explicitly mentioned as long as they can be considered dishes.
Once the wash cycles have finished, how to inspect the items is defined so that diverse parameters are evaluated. In order to pass the test, there cannot be any failures in any criteria.
In the same way as in the current edition, the new version of the standard determines how to mark items to indicate how many wash cycles each one is capable of resisting at a minimum, visualising the reusable status of the tested item.
Standardisation committee
The CTN53/SC 4/GT 4 working group is integrated into the standardisation committee UNE CTN53, whose secretariat is held by ANAIP, the Spanish Association of Plastic Industries. The collaboration between both organisations, the vocal participants in the working group and the Head of Tenders and Standardisation at AIMPLAS, Eva Bejarano’s coordination have made it possible to develop and publish this new standard which will soon see the light.
At AIMPLAS, we make all the tools needed to turn your item from single use to reusable available to you. If you would like more information, please contact us.
