In recent years, as waste accumulation has become an urgent environmental issue, recycling has gradually gained more attention than ever before from consumers and businesses around the world. However, this rapid development has also made it difficult to distinguish between high-quality, truly eco-friendly recycled products. This led to the creation of the GRS standard – the Global Recycled Standard.
What is GRS?
GRS (Global Recycled Standard), also known as the Global Recycling Standard in Vietnamese, is an international, voluntary product standard developed by Control Union Certifications in 2008 and recognized globally. In early 2011, ownership of this certification was officially transferred to Textile Exchange with some significant revisions proposed in 2012. To ensure the standard remains socially relevant, GRS is not static but changes every few years.
Currently, this certification is primarily applied to recycled apparel, recycled home textiles, recycled fabrics, recycled fibers, recycled metals, recycled plastics, and recycled paper. For the supply chain, it covers ginning, spinning, weaving, dyeing and printing, cutting, and sewing.
GRS Objectives
As its name suggests, GRS sets third-party requirements and standards for the recycled content in products. In other words, recycled materials are tracked throughout the production, distribution, and final product stages to ensure the product’s “recyclability.” This helps limit chemicals while reducing or even eliminating the harmful effects of recycled production, bringing many environmental benefits while still ensuring consumer safety. And these are the important goals that this certification aims for.
Main content of GRS
GRS has a rigorous and strict inspection process. Therefore, a product wishing to receive this certification must fully meet the following standards:
- Verification of recycled materials: Materials must meet the ISO 14021 definition of recycling, applicable to both pre- and post-consumer materials.
- Responsible production: The production sites of GRS-registered products must meet environmental and social requirements. This means that no harmful chemicals are permitted to be used in this process or on the product.
- Supply chain management: Recycled materials must provide verification of their journey from the initial stage to the final product to ensure transparency.
- Monitoring: A third-party certification organization will monitor each stage of product manufacturing. At the same time, GRS also manages the input of recycled raw materials from all over the world.
Benefits of owning GRS certification
GRS is clearly one of the most prominent global certifications in the recycling sector. Therefore, it is no surprise that owning GRS also means having many special and outstanding benefits, such as:
Improving production processes
GRS provides businesses and product manufacturers with a robust traceability system to ensure the transparency of recycled raw materials. This enables businesses and manufacturers to minimize the risk of contamination commonly found in recycled materials.
Enhanced credibility
Because GRS has a strict control process and global recognition, a product that passes the test and has GRS certification also means that it fully meets the standards required of a good quality recycled product. This helps the product easily build credibility with consumers, something that a brand takes a long time to achieve.
Increasing cooperation opportunities
As mentioned, GRS is an international certification, so products with this certification will help businesses and manufacturers export more easily to multiple countries, like an effective and perfect visa.
Conclusion
GRS is like a guarantee of recycled product quality that businesses and manufacturers send to their consumers. This is a quality statement as well as a commitment to protecting human health and the ecological environment. In a society where recycled products are gaining increasing attention every day, GRS certification will increasingly affirm the benefits it brings not only to consumers but also to businesses and manufacturers.