Pre-Consumer vs Post-Consumer Recycled Content

Hi Rachel, thanks for your question on pre and post-consumer recycled content.

The main difference between pre and post-consumer recycled content is where in the consumer cycle the product was recycled.

Pre-consumer material is waste generated in the manufacturing process, and used again to make the same material or product. For example, steel scrap from manufacturing steel I-beams going back into the manufacturing process to make more steel I-beams. Another example would be a paper factory reusing paper clippings to make more paper. It’s basically recycling the stuff that falls to the factory floor before it gets to the consumer.

Post-consumer content comes from a finished product that was purchased by a consumer and used, and then recycled after it is used to make a new product and diverting it from going into a landfill. Examples of this include a newspaper that was purchased, and then recycled to make more newspapers or other paper products, or aluminum cans and plastic bottles.

Now is one better than another? That’s tough to say. One could say that post-consumer recycled content is better because it’s actually diverting materials from going into landfills; where pre-consumer recycled content is typically material that was going to be reused anyway because it is more economical for the manufacturer to do so. On the flip side there it requires less energy for a manufacturer to recycle, or reuse a material back into the manufacturing process than it does for an item already used to be recycled into something else. So there are pros and cons for both.

I hope this answers your question. Good luck!

Dave