Glossary Terms
Terms that carry a different meaning in a regulation than they do in marketing copy. Each entry records the legal or standardised meaning and where it comes from.
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Bio-based
The word is equally true at 25% and at 85%, so it carries no information without a stated percentage and the basis it was measured against. USDA and EN 16785-1 use different denominators, so…
Last verified 2026-08-22 -
Plant-based
No legal definition exists for materials in either the EU or the United States. The term implies a majority plant composition to a reader while requiring nothing at all of the seller; ask instead…
Last verified 2026-08-22 -
Recycled
ISO 14021 requires the percentage by mass but does not oblige anyone to say whether the content is post-consumer or pre-consumer, so you have to ask. A headline figure a supplier cannot split is…
Last verified 2026-08-22 -
Vegan
It records the absence of animal input and nothing else: a sheet of virgin fossil-based PVC is vegan. Presented as an environmental credential, it is a misleading claim an enforcement authority can dismantle in…
Last verified 2026-08-22 -
Biodegradable
Without stated conditions the word means nothing: EN 13432 covers industrial composting only, and it is a test standard rather than permission to use the term. France already bans it on products and packaging,…
Last verified 2026-08-22 -
Post-consumer vs post-industrial
Under ISO 14021, scrap reclaimed within the same process that generated it is not recycled content at all, though quotations routinely count it. Post-industrial input is cheaper and easier to secure, so ask for…
Last verified 2026-08-22