Anyone including a percentage of recycled material in the textile passport needs a number of documents for this: a declaration from the supplier on the origin of the recycled material, a certificate from the certification scheme under which that material was processed, a test report from a laboratory confirming the fibre composition, and the purchase documentation linking the percentage to a specific batch of yarn or fabric. That is the list. The detail that matters most in this subject does not lie in the list itself but in the coherence between them.
A percentage of recycled material is only usable if it can be traced back to an uninterrupted series of declarations, from the source of the waste material to the garment that enters the shop. Each link in that chain must connect to the previous one. If a piece is missing anywhere, it can no longer be established whether the figure on the passport still matches what is actually in the product. This makes this subject different from, for example, a care instruction or a country code: those can be checked in isolation, a recycling percentage cannot.
Why the chain matters here
In practice, recycled material is often mixed, for example during the spinning of yarn from a batch that consists partly of new and partly of reused material. Certification schemes therefore often work with a system whereby the percentage is allocated across an entire batch or period, rather than each fibre being individually traceable. This is a recognised and common method, but it does mean that the substantiation stands or falls with the administration surrounding it: which certificate belongs to which delivery, and who established that at what time.
What you collect in practice
In practice, it comes down to four layers that belong together. The first layer is the declaration from the direct supplier about where the recycled material comes from, for example post-consumer textiles or production waste. The second layer is the certificate of the scheme under which the processing took place, with the number or reference by which it can be linked to a specific transaction. The third layer is a test report confirming the composition, usually drawn up by an independent laboratory. The fourth layer is your own purchase administration: delivery notes, order numbers and invoices that actually link the batch to the article that comes to market. Without that fourth layer, the rest of the chain is legally and factually not linked to your own product, however sound the certificates are in themselves.
What if a link is missing
It happens that a supplier shows a certificate, but not the underlying allocation to the specific delivery. In that case, the percentage is plausible on paper, but not demonstrable for that specific product. What that means in practice for an individual company, and which documents are sufficient for it, cannot be said in general: that depends on the certification scheme, the sector and the way in which the delegated act ultimately specifies this. That delegated act still has to be published; until then, this is one of the items whose precise requirements are not yet established. For an assessment of a specific situation, a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority is the appropriate contact.
Where this appears in the passport
In the passport itself, the entire chain of documents typically does not appear, but rather the percentage and a reference to the underlying evidence. However, that evidence must be stored somewhere and retained for ten years, because a passport that makes a claim without substantiation is more vulnerable to questions than a passport that does not mention it. When compiling the passport, it is therefore practical to keep the four layers as one file per article or per production line, instead of dispersed across different departments or suppliers.
Which documents are required for your own assortment depends on the type of recycled material, the certification scheme, and the structure of your chain. In a few questions you will see roughly where you stand, and in the knowledge base by subject it is explained which documents go with which claim. How we process that data from the manufacturer or importer into a passport is explained on the page about how it works, and frequently asked questions about this type of substantiation are collected at frequently asked questions.
If you want to first get in order for yourself what you already have and what is still missing, do the free quick-scan or browse through the topics in the knowledge base. Both provide an initial direction, without requiring you to immediately create an account.