The certificate ISCC Plus is a voluntary program related to bioeconomia One of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is to ensure sustainable patterns of production and consumption – the circular economy for food, feed, chemical products, plastics, packaging, textiles and renewable raw materials obtained from the process of using renewable energy sources that cover the same Certification requirements ISCC EU, but can be adapted to meet the needs of different markets and specific applications.
A circular economy is an economic model that seeks to eliminate waste and promote sustainability through the reuse and efficiency of resources. Different from linear economy, which follows the pattern of “extracting, to produce, rule out", a circular economy proposes a continuous cycle, where waste is reintegrated into the production process as inputs for new products.
The main principles of the circular economy include:
- Eliminate waste and pollution from the start.
- Keep products and materials in use.
- Regenerate natural systems.
This model aims not only to reduce the environmental impact, but also create a more resilient and sustainable economic system in the long term.
ISCC EU and ISCC Plus
O ISCC operates different certification systems for different markets. Some examples of these systems are ISCC EU and ISCC Plus. O ISCC EU is a certification system to demonstrate compliance with legal sustainability requirements specified in the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II. O ISCC Plus is a certification system for all markets and sectors not regulated by the RED II, like food markets, feed or energy and for various industrial applications.
The materials covered by ISCC Plus
Under the ISCC Plus, the following materials that contribute to the development of the Circular Economy and Bioeconomy can be certified:
- All types of agricultural and forestry raw materials
- Biogenic remains/waste
- Non-fossil materials
- Circular materials
- Other unconventional raw materials
Furthermore, all materials covered by the ISCC EU Where ISCC CORSIA can also be certified by ISCC Plus. Certification of materials and products not declared on any of these lists is potentially possible after consultation and confirmation by ISCC. The respective material lists indicate the relevant information required when submitting material requests to ISCC.
Lists of eligible materials are not exhaustive. The objective is to standardize/harmonize material descriptions used by system users in ISCC certificates. System users must adhere to the bill of materials of the respective ISCC scheme they employ.
O ISCC Plus, Traceability and Chain of Custody
According to ISO, the term ‘traceability’ describes the ability to identify and trace the origin, processing history, distribution and location of products and materials through supply chains. Traceability includes the requirement to be able to physically track products and materials through supply chains, but also to be able to tell what products they are made of and how they were processed.
‘Chain of custody’ is a process by which inputs and outputs and associated information are transferred, monitored and controlled as they move through each step of the relevant supply chain (ISO 22095:2020). This provides credibility that a particular batch of material or product is associated with a set of specific characteristics (for example, in relation to sustainability) and that information about the specific characteristics linked to the material or product is transferred, monitored and controlled.
O ISCC Plus, Recycling and Recyclability
As a certification identifies the circular economy, the ISCC Plus is closely related to the post-consumer waste recycling industry.
ISCC supports the development of the circular economy and, consequently, supports reuse, recovery and recycling with its certification approach.
The concept of circular economy aims to transition the current linear value chains of our economy to a circular form. This means that economic activity must be decoupled from the use of finite resources, leading to the idea of keeping materials and products in use. Ideally, no waste is generated, but the material is reused, recovered or recycled.
The concept of Recyclability involves requirements such as difficulty in collecting, operation cost, unavailability of technology and lack of initiatives to overcome these challenges, what recycling a specific material can do, industrially viable or not, is another component of the circular economy framework.
The Kangaroo and ISCC Plus
In this context, the company from Santa Catarina in the flexible plastic packaging segment Canguru Embalagens, crossed several of these bottlenecks, and with innovative technology in transforming plastic waste into resin, which is again used as raw material for a new plastic product, demonstrated traceability in its production chain and commitment of its process to sustainability and the circular economy, thus obtaining conditions to be the first company in its segment with capital 100% national, to obtain certification ISCC Plus.
Discover this success story on here
And learn more about ISCC certifications in our BLOG,en
On page official ISCC Plus