Swedish Industry Representatives Outline Key Credibility Principles for New Sector Sustainability Standard

(Sekab) ISO developing a global mass balance standard for the industry; New standard to help drive shift towards recycled and renewable materials; Call to include traceability and transparency for credibility -- The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), has started work to establish a globally recognized mass balance standard for the industry. It’s hoped the new standard will drive real change, supporting the development of recycled and renewable raw materials, and the production processes needed.

As this work gets underway, representatives for the Swedish industry, recognized as forerunners for sustainable business: Perstorp Holding AB, Trioplast AB, Sekab and Johanneberg Science Park, have outlined the key principles they believe the new standard needs to embrace for maximum credibility and sector transformation.

The mass balance approach is a mechanism to start the large-scale phasing out of fossil raw materials with the goal of a fully converted industry. It is about mixing fossil and recycled or renewable in existing systems and processes while keeping track of their quantities and allocating them to specific products. The actual carbon molecules in the product may not be recycled or renewable, but through a third-party certificate, the recycled or renewable content is verified.

Mass balance is a well-known methodology used within the energy sector for electricity, by Forest Stewardship Council for wood, Fair Trade and the Better Cotton Initiative, among others. Whilst there is a consensus among most parts of the sector that mass balance is crucial to accomplishing the transition of the industry, there are currently different ways of applying mass balance. Some of the voluntary schemes for mass balance which are used today accept transfer of credits between both geographies and products. READ MORE