GRS certified packaging, explained for buyers of recycled plastic
More buyers now ask us for recycled content. Fewer ask how they will prove it to their own customers.
JPPL is GRS certified for recycled-content packing bags. GRS stands for Global Recycled Standard. In this post I will explain, in plain words, what that certificate checks, what it does not check, and the one document you should ask for with every shipment of recycled packaging, from us or from anyone else.
The short answer
GRS is an independent standard for products made with recycled material. It checks that the recycled content claimed is real. It follows that material through every company that owns and processes it. It also puts rules on social, environmental and chemical practices at the certified sites.
The proof for your goods is a Transaction Certificate (TC). It is not the certificate your supplier has framed in the office.
Who owns GRS
The Global Recycled Standard belongs to Textile Exchange, a global non-profit. Because of that name, many people think GRS is only for clothes. It is not. Any product with recycled content can be certified to it, and plastic film and bag makers use it too.
Textile Exchange writes the rules. Independent certification bodies do the audits and issue the certificates. So when a supplier says "we are GRS certified", there is an outside auditor behind that sentence.
I like that. It means our word is not the only thing you are relying on.
What GRS actually checks
I read Textile Exchange's own page on the standard before writing this. In simple words, it covers four things:
- The recycled content claim. Recycled input must come with documents, and the percentage in the product is worked out from those records.
- Chain of custody. Textile Exchange describes this as documenting and verifying the path certified material takes through every stage of the supply chain to the final product.
- Social and environmental rules. GRS sites must meet requirements on how workers are treated and how the site manages its impact.
- Chemicals. Textile Exchange says chemicals with harmful potential are not allowed on GRS products.
Here is how I explain chain of custody to people who are new to it. When you buy a plot in Jaipur, your lawyer checks every sale deed back to the first owner. One missing deed and the title is in doubt. GRS works the same way. If a company in the middle buys the material, repacks it or processes it without its own certificate, the claim can break there.
Scope Certificate and Transaction Certificate
These two papers confuse many buyers, so let me be very clear.
I will keep it short.
A Scope Certificate (SC) is issued to a company. It names the company, its certified sites, the processes and product groups covered, and the dates it is valid. It says the company is able to supply GRS goods.
A Transaction Certificate (TC) is issued for a particular sale. It covers named goods going from a named seller to a named buyer, with quantities. This is the paper that proves your shipment is GRS material.
Scope certificates themselves carry a line saying they provide no proof that goods delivered are GRS certified, and that the proof is a valid TC covering those goods. So if a supplier sends you only the SC with an invoice, you have a nice PDF. You do not have proof for your goods.
The 20% and 50% rules
This is the part I see most buyers get wrong.
Textile Exchange's FAQ says you can use GRS as a business-to-business tool for any product with at least 20% recycled content. If you want consumer-facing labelling, the product must contain at least 50% recycled content.
Take a real case. We make LDPE bags with 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) material. A product like that sits above 20% and below 50%. Under these rules, a 30% product could carry a GRS claim between businesses, but only if it sits inside the supplier's own scope. Ours does not. Our GRS scope starts at 50% PCR, so our 30% bags are sold without a GRS claim.
This is the lesson. A supplier's scope can be narrower than the standard, and the scope is what counts. And if your marketing team wants the GRS logo printed on the bag, you need 50% or more anyway, and the label use goes through the certification body.
One more point. Ask whether the recycled input is post-consumer (used packaging collected back) or pre-consumer (factory scrap). If your brand promise says "post-consumer", check that it is written on the paperwork.
A line in a sales email is not proof.
GRS versus a supplier's own declaration
Many suppliers will happily give you a letter that says "this product contains 30% recycled material". That letter may be honest. The problem is that nobody outside the supplier has checked it, and your customer cannot check it either.
| Supplier's own declaration | GRS certified, with a TC | |
|---|---|---|
| Who checks the claim | The supplier | An independent certification body |
| Proof for your shipment | A letter | A Transaction Certificate for those goods |
| Recycled input traced back | Usually not | Yes, through each certified company |
| Social, environmental and chemical rules | None required | Required at certified sites |
| How your customer can check it | Only by trusting you | On Textile Exchange's website |
Textile Exchange's site has a "Find a Certified Company" search and an "Authenticate a Transaction" tool. Use both before you trust any PDF.
What GRS does not tell you
I want to be honest about the limits.
A certificate can be oversold, by suppliers and by buyers.
- GRS does not make a product food safe. Our food-contact packaging is made from virgin material only. FSSAI allows recycled PET for food contact, but not recycled PE or PP, and no certificate changes that.
- GRS says nothing about whether the product can be recycled again after use.
- GRS is not India's EPR system. Recycled-content obligations under India's plastic waste rules are reported through CPCB's EPR portal, and a GRS TC does not replace that paperwork. Your EPR consultant should confirm what you need.
- GRS does not promise strength. Recycled film can have small gels and a little less strength than virgin film of the same thickness. Judge the bag on your own trial, not on the certificate.
How to ask for a TC
Write it into the order, not into a WhatsApp message after dispatch.
- Before you order, ask for the supplier's Scope Certificate. Check the company name, the site address, the product group and the expiry date. Then search the company on Textile Exchange's database.
- On the purchase order, write: "GRS claim required. Supplier to provide a Transaction Certificate for this shipment, recycled content __%."
- Give your exact legal name and address as it must appear on the TC.
- Expect the TC after dispatch. The supplier applies to its certification body with the shipping documents, and the body issues it.
- When it arrives, match the goods, weights and invoice numbers against your shipment. Then check it with the "Authenticate a Transaction" tool.
- If you will pass the GRS claim on to your own customers, ask a certification body whether your company also needs to be certified.
A change coming in 2027
Textile Exchange is folding its standards, GRS included, into a new Materials Matter Standard. Its website says the criteria were released on 12 December 2025, the standard becomes effective on 31 December 2026 and it is mandatory from 31 December 2027. Downstream companies move to its Content Claim Standard on the same timeline.
If you are reading this in 2027 or later, ask your supplier which standard their certificate sits under now. I will update this post when the change reaches us.
Where JPPL fits
We make both virgin and recycled-content plastic packaging. The recycled-content range includes PCR LDPE bags, HDPE garbage bags and stretch film. Not all of it is GRS certified, so here is our scope exactly as the certificate states it.
- The certification body is Intertek, licensed by Textile Exchange. Our Scope Certificate is ITS-TE-00334281-GRS-0000948, under GRS version 4.0.
- It is valid until 23 March 2027.
- It covers extrusion, manufacturing and printing at our Jaipur plant.
- The only product group is packaging, i.e. packing sacks and bags. The bags must be made with 100% post-consumer recycled polyethylene, or with 50% to 99% post-consumer recycled polyethylene and the rest non-recycled polyethylene.
So our 30% PCR bags and our stretch film are not GRS certified products. If you need a GRS claim from us, order bags with 50% PCR or more, and each shipment can carry a TC. Our GRS status sits on our certifications page with our ISO 9001:2015 and FSC certificates.
Ask for a copy of our Scope Certificate before you order. I would rather you check us than trust us.
Questions buyers ask
Does GRS apply to plastic packaging, or only to textiles?
It applies to any product with recycled content. The owner is a textile body, but plastic film and bag makers are certified to it too.
Can a bag with 30% recycled content carry the GRS logo?
No. Textile Exchange allows GRS between businesses from 20% recycled content, but a consumer-facing label needs at least 50%.
Is GRS the same as FSC?
No. FSC covers paper and wood from responsibly managed forests. GRS covers recycled content. We hold both, FSC for our honeycomb paper wrap and void fill paper, GRS for our recycled-content bags at 50% PCR and above.
If you are planning a recycled-content order, send us the product, the recycled percentage you want and where the claim will appear, on business paperwork or on a consumer label. We will tell you honestly what is possible and what paperwork will come with it.
