Pre-consumer vs post-consumer recycled content

Pre-consumer is diverted during manufacturing. Post-consumer is diverted after consumer use

Direct answer. In 16 CFR § 260.13 “Recycled content claims,” paragraph (b) says it is deceptive to represent that an item contains recycled content unless it is composed of materials that have been recovered or otherwise diverted from the waste stream, either during the manufacturing process (pre-consumer), or after consumer use (post-consumer). Pre-consumer is the parenthetical for diversion during the manufacturing process. Post-consumer is the parenthetical for diversion after consumer use. The same paragraph says recycled content claims may—but do not have to—distinguish between pre-consumer and post-consumer materials, and that where a marketer distinguishes between them, it should have substantiation for any express or implied claim about the percentage of pre-consumer or post-consumer content in an item. Paragraph (c) says that for items partially made of recycled material, the marketer should clearly and prominently qualify the claim to avoid deception about the amount or percentage, by weight, of recycled content in the finished product or package. The section does not set a minimum percentage. A recycled-content line on a Shopify product page is still that claim. This page is not legal advice.

Green Claims Guard (Shopify App Store · Write a review) scans green marketing wording, reviews possible issues, and exports dated evidence records for Shopify catalog and content review. It does not decide whether a recycled-content claim is substantiated. Showing a percent on the same page is the recycled-content percent guide.

Related: CLPLens — Hazard pictograms on the product page, not only the parcel.

Free check first: Green claim wording self-check runs in your browser and sends nothing. Paste product copy and see which environmental wording to review.

Checklist before a recycled-content line goes on the product page

What § 260.13 says, in its words

Paragraph (a): “It is deceptive to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a product or package is made of recycled content. Recycled content includes recycled raw material, as well as used, reconditioned, and re-manufactured components.” Footnote 50 says the term “used” refers to parts that are not new and that have not undergone any remanufacturing or reconditioning.

Paragraph (b): “It is deceptive to represent, directly or by implication, that an item contains recycled content unless it is composed of materials that have been recovered or otherwise diverted from the waste stream, either during the manufacturing process (pre-consumer), or after consumer use (post-consumer). If the source of recycled content includes pre-consumer material, the advertiser should have substantiation that the pre-consumer material would otherwise have entered the waste stream. Recycled content claims may—but do not have to—distinguish between pre-consumer and post-consumer materials. Where a marketer distinguishes between pre-consumer and post-consumer materials, it should have substantiation for any express or implied claim about the percentage of pre-consumer or post-consumer content in an item.”

Paragraph (c): “Marketers can make unqualified claims of recycled content if the entire product or package, excluding minor, incidental components, is made from recycled material. For items that are partially made of recycled material, the marketer should clearly and prominently qualify the claim to avoid deception about the amount or percentage, by weight, of recycled content in the finished product or package.”

Paragraph (d) is about used, reconditioned, or re-manufactured components. It says the marketer should clearly and prominently qualify the recycled content claim to avoid deception about the nature of such components, unless it is clear to reasonable consumers from context that a product’s recycled content consists of those components. That paragraph is not the pre-consumer / post-consumer split.

Examples 1, 2, and 3, as the section prints them

These three examples are the ones that turn on the waste stream and on pre-consumer versus post-consumer. The section also prints examples 4 through 12. They are on the eCFR page. This guide does not repeat them.

Example 1: “A manufacturer collects spilled raw material and scraps from the original manufacturing process. After a minimal amount of reprocessing, the manufacturer combines the spills and scraps with virgin material for use in production of the same product. A recycled content claim is deceptive since the spills and scraps are normally reused by industry within the original manufacturing process and would not normally have entered the waste stream.”

Example 2: “Fifty percent of a greeting card’s fiber weight is composed from paper that was diverted from the waste stream. Of this material, 30% is post-consumer and 20% is pre-consumer. It would not be deceptive if the marketer claimed that the card either ‘contains 50% recycled fiber’ or ‘contains 50% total recycled fiber, including 30% post-consumer fiber.’”

Example 3: “A paperboard package with 20% recycled fiber by weight is labeled ‘20% post-consumer recycled fiber.’ The recycled content was composed of overrun newspaper stock never sold to customers. Because the newspapers never reached consumers, the claim is deceptive.”

The percentages in examples 2 and 3 are the section’s illustrations. They are not a threshold this page adds.

On a Shopify product page

A recycled-content sentence in the title, description, or a badge is the claim § 260.13 is about. Qualify a partial claim as paragraph (c) says. State a pre-consumer or post-consumer percentage only with the substantiation paragraph (b) describes. How to put a specified percent on the same page, as distinct from a bare “recycled” line, is recycled-content percent claims. This page does not repeat that job.

EU texts: EmpCo does not define these two terms

Directive (EU) 2024/825 bans a generic environmental claim where the trader cannot demonstrate recognised excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim. That blacklist point is the generic environmental claims ban. The directive does not define pre-consumer or post-consumer recycled content. A recyclable claim is a different wording job: EmpCo recyclable claims.

Two other EU acts do define related words, each for its own scheme. Commission Decision (EU) 2016/1332, the EU Ecolabel criteria for furniture, says ‘Recycled content’ means the proportion, by mass, of recycled material in a product or packaging, and that only pre-consumer and post-consumer materials are considered as recycled content, as defined in ISO 14021. It says ‘Pre-consumer material’ means material diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process but excluding the reutilization of materials such as rework, regrind or scrap generated in a process and capable of being reclaimed within the same process that generated it as defined in ISO 14021 and also excludes waste wood, chips and fibres from logging and sawmilling operations. It says ‘Post-consumer material’ means material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product which can no longer be used for its intended purpose, including returns of material from the distribution chain, as defined in ISO 14021. That decision is the furniture ecolabel. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2683 of 30 November 2023, for recycled plastic content in single-use plastic beverage bottles, defines ‘post-consumer plastic waste’ as waste, as defined in Article 3(1) of Directive 2008/98/EC, that is plastic and that has been generated from plastic products that have been placed on the market, and defines ‘recycled plastic’ as plastic which was post-consumer plastic waste before recycling as defined in Article 3(17) of Directive 2008/98/EC and which has been produced by recycling. Those are not a general EU definition of a Shopify recycled-content claim.

What this page is not

Related pages

Not legal advice. Confirm 16 CFR § 260.13, Directive (EU) 2024/825, and any ecolabel or bottle-content decision you actually rely on before you treat a recycled-content line as in or out of scope. The app scans wording and exports evidence records you review.