What is Global Recycled Standard?

Global Recycle Standard (GRS) was originally developed by Control Union Certifications in 2008 and ownership passed to textile exchange in January 2011. The Global Recycled Standard (GRS) is a voluntary product standard for tracking and verifying the content of recycled materials in a final product.The standard applies to the full supply chain and addresses traceability, environmental principles, social requirements, chemical content, and labeling. GRS covers processing, manufacturing, packaging, labeling, trading, and distribution of all products made with a minimum of 20% recycled material. It also sets requirements for third-party certification of recycled content, chain of custody, social and environmental practices, and chemical restrictions.

 The standard is for companies looking to verify the recycled content of their products and being responsible for the environment during the production process. Although the Global Recycle Standard is owned by textile exchange, the range of products is not limited to textiles and can include any type of product containing recycled materials. The goal of GRS is to increase use of recycled materials in products and reduce or eliminate the harm caused by its production.