Standards and the International Standardization Landscape: Relevance to Plastics

This research paper examines the international standardization landscape as it relates to plastics pollution. It analyzes the roles of major standards organizations like ISO, CEN, and ASTM International, identifies gaps in current standards across the plastics value chain, and proposes strategic re-orientations—such as variety reduction and digital materials passports—to support a circular economy and a potential global treaty on plastic pollution.

• Current plastics standards are fragmented and do not provide a comprehensive set of instruments for combating plastic pollution across the entire value chain, from design to end-of-life, nor do they serve as consistent indicators for measuring progress.
• Standards are primarily voluntary and industry-led; they cannot solve plastic pollution without government-defined priorities, clear roadmaps, and complementary regulatory and policy frameworks.
• ISO/TC 61 is the primary technical committee for plastics, having published over 700 standards since 1947. Its subcommittee SC 14, established in 2017, specifically focuses on environmental and sustainability aspects, including bio-based plastics, biodegradability, and resource efficiency.
• There is significant overlap between international and regional standards; for example, over 70% of standards from the European Committee for Standardization's (CEN) TC 249 are identical to those developed by ISO/TC 61.
• A preliminary mapping of standards against the plastics value chain reveals that while material content and environmental behavior are well-covered, areas such as the design of products to facilitate recycling, the reuse of plastic products, and collection and sorting are only marginally addressed.
• The author proposes 'variety reduction' as a key strategy to increase efficiency in collection, sorting, and recycling by standardizing a limited number of plastic materials and functionally equivalent product types.
• To improve material transparency and the elimination of hazardous additives, the paper suggests the implementation of standardized digital materials passports that track the composition of plastics throughout their life cycle.
• Standards could support a future global treaty on plastic pollution by establishing measurable targets and monitoring tools, provided that standards organizations adopt a holistic, value-chain approach and reduce fragmentation.

APA

Weissinger, R. (2021). Standards and the International Standardization Landscape: Relevance to Plastics. Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs. https://lyrical-cormorant.files.svdcdn.com/production/assets/images/Publications/Standrads-and-the-International-Standardization-Landscape-Relevance-to-Plastics.pdf?dm=1683811358

Chicago

Weissinger, Reinhard. Standards and the International Standardization Landscape: Relevance to Plastics. Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs, 2021. https://lyrical-cormorant.files.svdcdn.com/production/assets/images/Publications/Standrads-and-the-International-Standardization-Landscape-Relevance-to-Plastics.pdf?dm=1683811358.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Weissinger |first1=Reinhard |title=Standards and the International Standardization Landscape: Relevance to Plastics |publisher=Forum on Trade, Environment, & the SDGs |date=August 2021 |url=https://lyrical-cormorant.files.svdcdn.com/production/assets/images/Publications/Standrads-and-the-International-Standardization-Landscape-Relevance-to-Plastics.pdf?dm=1683811358 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{weissinger2021standards, author = {Weissinger, Reinhard}, title = {{Standards and the International Standardization Landscape: Relevance to Plastics}}, institution = {Forum on Trade, Environment, \& the SDGs}, year = {2021}, month = aug, url = {https://lyrical-cormorant.files.svdcdn.com/production/assets/images/Publications/Standrads-and-the-International-Standardization-Landscape-Relevance-to-Plastics.pdf?dm=1683811358}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }