PCR stands for Post-Consumer Recycled resin. It is plastic that has been used by customers and collected for recycling, cleaned, melted and reused. In some cases, closed-loop buyback programs are set up for products to reclaim old plastic products from customers and turn them into recycled resin that will be used again in future products.
PIR is Post Industrial Recycled (resin). This is material, that has never made it to the consumer and is usually left over from the manufacturing process and can be generated for a variety of reasons. Some scrap comes from contouring products or changing production on a line. Other times, scrap is created during necessary product quality and printing standards checks. Since this plastic never leaves the manufacturing setting, it can be easier to collect and recycle.
