Recycles with Soft Plastics - Self Declared is one of the declarations under the Ekko Score Recycle Standard.
Recycles with Soft Plastics - Self Declared means that you can take this packaging to any Coles or Woolworths supermarket and recycle it with your other soft plastics. Soft plastics are recyclable, but not normally accepted in municipal recycle bins because they jam recycling machinery. The easiest way to tell if something is a soft plastic is the scrunch test. If you can scrunch it in your hand, it's soft.
The collection and recycling of soft plastics is incredibly important because these plastics break down in landfill into micro plastics - either because they are soft enough to be chopped up by adjacent garbage or they are degrading. In each case, they are contributing to a micro plastics problem. Soft plastics also tend to be light so have a way of blowing in the breeze and ending up as litter in our urban areas, waterways and oceans.
Recycles with Soft Plastics - Self Declared sits in the RECYCLING Family under the Environmental Standard: Packaging of Ekko Score. One set of weighted Ekko Score points are gathered from each Family.
These are the claimable declarations & certifications under the Environmental Standard: Recycle. Please note that different certifications and declarations may be relevant to each category.
Yes, where the impact of the claim is similar. This is how it works.
IMPORTANTLY, SELF DECLARATIONS ARE GOVERNED BY CONSUMER LAW. IT IS AGAINST THE LAW FOR BUSINESSES TO MAKE FALSE CLAIMS (INCLUDING IMPLIED CLAIMS IN A CONTEXT LIKE EKKO SCORE).
EVEN IF A PRODUCT HAS A FORMAL CERTIFICATION, THAT CERTIFICATION DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ENTIRE INTEGRITY OF THE PRODUCT'S MAKE UP.
An example might be a Handmade, Australian, Certified Organic chocolate that contains Palm Oil. Under Ekko Score, this product would claim Certified Organic and would self declare: Zero Waste Production and Australian made, but could not claim the No Palm Oil declaration. This would mean a lower score under the No Exploitation Standard, making the inclusion of Palm Oil clear to potential consumers, without detracting from its other assets.
No product is perfect, but some products are definitely better than others. Ekko Score allows you to make the best decision you can, or to put it another way, the least worst decision. And to make that decision with the confidence of not being green washed. Find out more about how Ekko Score works.