China issues a draft GB/T to set concentration limits for restricted substances in recycled plastics 
On June 28, 2024, the China Petrochemical Industry Federation released a draft national voluntary standard (GB/T) titled “Requirements of concentration limits for restricted substances in recycled plastics” on the National Public Service Platform for Standards Information. The draft standard specifies the concentration limits and test methods for restricted substances. According to the explanatory document of the draft, these restricted substances and their concentration limits are mainly selected and determined based on the “2023 List of Key Controlled New Pollutants”, the “Stockholm Convention”, the REACH Regulation (EU 2017/1000) and the RoHS Directive (2011/65/EU), etc.
Application scope
The standard applies to recycled plastic particles and products made from waste plastics through screening, classification, crushing, cleaning, melt extrusion and other processes. The standard also applies to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle flakes. It should be noted that restricted substances specified here apply only to the components of the recycled plastics, and not to any subsequent processing, such as modification.
In addition, the standard also does not apply to recycled plastics from hazardous waste such as medical waste, pesticide packaging, and radioactive waste, as well as recycled plastics used as food contact packaging materials and pharmaceutical packaging materials.
Restricted substances
Based on the restriction requirements, restricted substances are divided into three categories as follows.
Substances to be declared free of
There are 12 substances subject to the “Substances to be declared free of”. The complete list of substances can be found in the Table 1 of the standard. As these 12 substances have been banned in China and should not be present in waste plastics, manufacturers and importers are not required to conduct tests to measure the content of these substances, but they have to self-declare that the recycled plastics they handle are free of these substances after confirming the procurement sources of the recycled plastics.
Substances that are restricted to contain
There are 11 substances listed as substances that are restricted to contain in the Table 2 of the standard. Concentration limits are specified for these 11 substances and cannot be exceeded.
Substances to be restricted
In addition to the two categories above, 25 substances to be restricted are listed in the Appendix A as reference material.
The following table shows a partial list of “Substances to be declared free of” and “Substances that are restricted to contain”, for the full list, please refer to the Table 1 and Table 2 of the original text.
| Category | Substance | CAS RN | Concentration limits（mg/kg） |
|---|---|---|---|
| Substances to be declared free of | Hexachloro-1,3-butadiene | 87-68-3 | Prohibited |
| Pentachlorophenol and its salts and esters | 87-86-5 131-52-2 27735-64-4 3772-94-9 1825-21-4 |
Prohibited | |
| Perfluorohexane-1-sulphonic acid, its salts and related compounds (PFHxS) | 355-46-4 | PFHxS and its salts≦0.025 PFHxS related compounds≦1 |
|
| Substances that are restricted to contain | Short-chain chlorinated paraffins (C10-C13) | 85535-84-8 68920-70-7 71011-12-6 85536-22-7 85681-73-8 108171-26-2 |
≦1500 |
| Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) | 59536-65-1 | ≦1000 Hexabromobiphenyl shall not be detected |
|
| Perfluorooctanoic acid, its salts and related compounds (PFOA) | 335-67-1 2395-00-8 3825-26-1 etc. |
PFOA and its salts≦0.025 PFOA related compounds≦1 |
|
| According to the Article 6.1 of the standard, the concentration limits of “Substances to be declared free of” are voluntary declarations by manufacturers or importers. While the concentration limits of “Substances that are restricted to contain” are regulatory requirements. | |||
The test methods for the above-mentioned substances are also specified in the standard.
The original text of the draft can be downloaded from the following URL. Comments on the draft can also be submitted here (in Simplified Chinese).
https://std.samr.gov.cn/gb/search/gbDetailed?id=19BC77806E407F7DE06397BE0A0A6DC1
