Recycled plastic in corporate merchandise: what each claim actually means

Arthur Van Coppenolle, Founder of Sustainity·August 27, 2026

Recycled, rPET, ocean plastic and ocean bound plastic describe different materials, sourced differently, with different levels of verification behind them. Two of them have a certification system that can be checked. One is used loosely. One is often used incorrectly.

This article presents publicly available regulatory information for information purposes. It does not constitute legal advice.

Recycled plastic appears on merchandise quotes under at least four names, and they are not synonyms. Recycled, rPET, ocean plastic and ocean bound plastic describe different materials, sourced differently, behind which the level of verification available is not the same.

Two of them have a certification system that can be independently verified. One is frequently used loosely. One is often used incorrectly.

Four terms, side by side

What each term describes, and what can be checked with a third party.
Term	What it describes	Independent verification
Recycled content	Material diverted from waste, of any origin	Yes, through GRS or RCS
rPET	Recycled polyethylene terephthalate, usually from bottles	Yes, through GRS or RCS
Ocean bound plastic	Abandoned plastic waste at risk of reaching the ocean	Yes, through the OBP certification programme
Ocean plastic	Plastic recovered from the ocean itself	Rarely, and it is not the same as OBP

What rPET means

rPET is recycled polyethylene terephthalate. It is the material most often meant by recycled polyester on merchandise, and it typically comes from post consumer bottles.

The term describes a material, not a verified claim. A supplier saying rPET is telling you what the input was. Whether that input has been traced through the chain is a separate question, answered by GRS or RCS certification rather than by the word itself.

Two things are worth asking. What percentage of the finished product is recycled content, and under which standard that percentage is certified.

The percentages matter more than they appear, and they are a known source of confusion. Intertek (new tab), an accredited certification body for both standards, puts the RCS minimum at 5% recycled input and the GRS minimum at 20% for certification. Textile Exchange (new tab), which owns both standards, settles the question itself in its own FAQ: the GRS can be used as a business to business tool from 20% recycled content, but consumer facing labelling, the logo included, requires at least 50%. Textile Exchange also distinguishes the two standards by the additional social, environmental and chemical requirements that the GRS carries and the RCS does not.

A product can therefore be described, entirely accurately, as RCS certified at 5% recycled content. That is a correct claim, correctly certified, and it is not the same product as one carrying the GRS logo.

What ocean bound plastic means

Ocean bound plastic has a precise technical definition, and there is a certification programme behind it.

The definition derives from work by Jenna Jambeck and co-authors published in Science, and was formalised by the NGO Zero Plastic Oceans. According to the OBP certification programme (new tab), ocean bound plastic is abandoned plastic waste located within 50 km of shorelines, where waste management is non existent or inadequate. The programme distinguishes four categories, which it names: POTENTIAL OBP (waste within that 50 km coastal band), WATERWAYS OBP (waste within 200 m of rivers and in rivers), SHORELINE OBP (waste within 200 m of shores) and FISHING MATERIAL (used fishing gear and plastic bycatch).

One exclusion matters. Plastic waste already sitting in a controlled landfill or a managed dump site is not ocean bound plastic. Waste abandoned in an uncontrolled or informal dump site is.

The certification exists and can be checked. Control Union (new tab) operates the OBP certification programme, developed with Zero Plastic Oceans, across four separate standards covering collection organisations, recycling organisations, neutralisation service providers, and plastic producers and users. Conformity is checked through annual on site audits.

And here is the most directly actionable test in this article. Those four standards are not enough to authorise the logo. Zero Plastic Oceans is explicit: the OBP logo may only be used (new tab) when the claims attached to it are verified and certified by a third party, and to earn that right, the brand itself must be certified under the Brand Standard. In other words, an OBP logo on a product does not merely assert something about the material: it presupposes a certification in the name of the brand displaying it. That is a question to ask, and it has a yes or no answer.

The distinction to hold onto. Ocean bound plastic is not ocean plastic. Ocean plastic refers to material recovered from the ocean itself, a considerably smaller and more difficult category. The two are often used interchangeably in marketing copy, and they should not be.

Funding a collection is not recycled content

A number of merchandise brands run a model where each item sold funds the collection of a stated quantity of plastic elsewhere. These programmes can be substantial and well documented.

They are a different kind of claim from recycled content, and they belong in a different column of your file.

Recycled content describes what the product is made of, and can be certified through the chain of custody. Funded collection describes an activity the purchase pays for, separate from the product’s own composition. A product can do one, the other, both, or neither.

When a supplier states a collection figure, three questions are worth asking. Is the figure verified by a third party or stated by the brand. Is the collected material certified as ocean bound plastic under the OBP programme. And does any of that material end up in the product you are buying, or is the collection funded separately from manufacturing.

None of these questions is hostile. All three have answers, and a supplier who has thought about the model will have them ready.

Recycled content and the September 2026 rules

From 27 September 2026, Directive (EU) 2024/825 applies across the European Union and changes what can be said about a product in consumer facing communication.

Two of its provisions bear directly on recycled plastic claims. Generic environmental claims are prohibited where they are not substantiated by recognised environmental performance relevant to the claim, presented on the same medium. And sustainability labels are permitted only where they rest on a certification scheme or one established by a public authority.

For a merchandise buyer, the practical reading is direct. Made from recycled materials, standing alone on a packaging insert or a campaign page, is exactly the kind of unspecified claim the directive targets. The same statement with the percentage, the standard and the certificate number behind it is a different proposition entirely.

What to ask for

Six items, which a supplier either has or does not have.

The recycled content percentage of the finished product.
The standard it is certified under, GRS or RCS, with the certificate number and its scope.
Whether the input is post consumer or post industrial, since these are different materials carrying different environmental arguments.
Whether any material is certified as ocean bound plastic, and under which of the four OBP standards. And, if an OBP logo is displayed, whether the brand holds the Brand Standard that authorises it.
The country of manufacture.
Whether a collection or offsetting programme is presented alongside the product, kept clearly separate from the material claim.

At Sustainity, products carrying a recycled material certification are listed as such on our commitments page, alongside those that carry none.

Frequently asked questions

What does rPET mean?

rPET is recycled polyethylene terephthalate, usually sourced from post consumer bottles. The term describes the material. Whether the recycled content has been traced and verified is certified separately, through GRS or RCS.

Is ocean bound plastic the same as ocean plastic?

No. Ocean bound plastic is abandoned plastic waste located within 50 km of shorelines, where waste management is absent or inadequate, before it reaches the sea. Ocean plastic refers to material recovered from the ocean itself.

Can ocean bound plastic be certified?

Yes. Zero Plastic Oceans developed the OBP certification programme with Control Union, covering collection organisations, recycling organisations, neutralisation service providers, and plastic producers and users. Using the OBP logo additionally requires the brand itself to be certified under the Brand Standard.

What is the minimum recycled content for GRS?

Textile Exchange, which owns the standard, puts the minimum at 20% for business to business use, and at 50% for consumer facing labelling, the logo included. The RCS carries a 5% minimum.

Does funding plastic collection make a product recycled?

No. Funded collection describes an activity the purchase pays for. Recycled content describes what the product is made from. They are separate claims, to be documented separately.

Is post consumer recycled better than post industrial?

They are different. Post consumer material was used and discarded by an end user. Post industrial material is manufacturing waste diverted before reaching a consumer. Both are recycled inputs, and the distinction deserves to be stated rather than assumed.