DIN standard initiated by Hamburg-based startup cirplus received award
Last week in Berlin, the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) honored special projects and outstanding commitment to standardization with the "DIN Prize 2022". DIN SPEC 91446 - title: Classification of plastic recyclates by data quality levels for use and (internet-based) trade - won in the categories "Innovation" and "Climate". Christian Schiller, founder and CEO of the Hamburg-based startup cirplus, played an important role in establishing this standard.
From an idea to an international standard
The success story of DIN SPEC 91446 began at the DIN-Connect ideas competition on November 07, 2019. Christian Schiller from cirplus prevailed against 32 applicants with the concept of the B2B marketplace for recycled plastics and won the DIN-Connect funding program of DIN and VDE|DKE. As a result, cirplus launched DIN SPEC 91446. A consortium of 16 representatives from industry and science answered the call and, in over 1000 hours of work, developed DIN SPEC 91446, the world's first standard for high-quality plastics recycling, combining the aspects of digitalization and circular economy.
On November 11, 2021, DIN SPEC 91446 was officially published and has since been used by companies along the value chain that have an interest in using recycled plastics and digitizing material flows. The next major goal is to transfer DIN SPEC 91446 into European and international norms and standards. In order to implement the European plastics economic strategy, the EU Commission had already included DIN SPEC 91446 in the canon of relevant standards in August 2022.
