Mass balance accounting
Article 7
1. The attributed amounts shall be determined on the basis of process-specific operational data that is representative for the considered period, in accordance with paragraphs 2 to 5. 2. The calculation of the weight of eligible material in the inputs shall be determined based on one of the following sources: (a) the declarations received from economic operators other than the economic operator at the calculation point in accordance with Article 8(3), where such other economic operators provide the eligible material; (b) the internal documentation of the economic operator at the calculation point. 3. Where the calculation point is the first calculation point on a recycling pathway on which all eligible material is processed into fuels or losses or enters a steam cracker and where the input eligible material is in liquid form, paragraph 4 shall apply. Where the input eligible material is liquid and a share but not all of it enters a steam cracker at a later calculation point while a share is further processed into propylene without entering a steam cracker, paragraph 4 shall apply up to the point where the material used for propylene production without entering a steam cracker (the ‘propylene-stream’) is separated from the material that will enter a steam cracker (the ‘steam cracker-stream’). (a) For the propylene-stream, the share of attributed amounts in the output material shall be equal to the share of eligible material in the input material. In subsequent calculation points, paragraph 5 shall apply. (b) For the steam cracker-stream, paragraph 4 shall apply with regard to the remaining steps. In all other cases, paragraph 5 shall apply. 4. The weight of the eligible material that is fed into a steam cracker shall be determined in accordance with the following steps: (a) establish the maximum acceptable boiling point; (b) determine the weight of the input eligible material that is evaporated at the maximum acceptable boiling point, in accordance with a standard test method for boiling range distribution of petroleum fractions by gas chromatography, such as EN 15199-3:2021 and EN 15199-4:2021 or equivalent; (c) determine the weight of the total input material, which may be a blend of eligible and non-eligible material, that is evaporated at the maximum acceptable boiling point, in accordance with a standard test method for boiling range distribution of petroleum fractions by gas chromatography, such as EN 15199-3:2021 and EN 15199-4:2021 or equivalent.; (d) if the share of total input material that is not evaporated at the maximum acceptable boiling point undergoes a processing step after the present calculation point and before entering the steam cracker in which the boiling point curve of the input material is changed, the following steps shall be performed in each such processing step: (i) determine the weight of the eligible material in the outputs that is evaporated at the maximum acceptable boiling point, in accordance with a standard test method for boiling range distribution of petroleum fractions by gas chromatography, such as EN 15199-3:2021 and EN 15199-4:2021 or equivalent, and add this weight to the weight determined in point (b); (ii) determine the weight of the outputs that is evaporated at the maximum acceptable boiling point in accordance with a standard test method for boiling range distribution of petroleum fractions by gas chromatography, such as EN 15199-3:2021 and EN 15199-4:2021 or equivalent, and add this weight to the weight determined in point (c); (e) calculate the ratio of the weight determined in accordance with point (b) and adjusted in accordance with point (d) and the weight determined in accordance with point (c) and adjusted in accordance with point (d) or consider the ratio as equal to the ratio of the weight of the input eligible material and the weight of the total input material where the economic operator provides verifiable evidence that the step in point (b) or (d)(i) is technically not feasible; (f) determine the weight of material that, on the basis of verifiable evidence provided by the economic operator, is fed into those steam cracker or crackers relevant for point (a); (g) multiply the ratio determined in point (e) with the weight of material determined in point (f), the result of which shall be the weight of eligible material that is considered to enter the steam cracker or crackers; (h) the next calculation point in which the attribution of input eligible material that enters the steam cracker or crackers to the different outputs is to be determined shall be at the output of the steam cracker or crackers. 5. The following steps shall be taken: (a) the weight of the input eligible material shall be allocated to the different outputs in such a way that the relative share of eligible material in each output is equal to the relative share of the eligible material in the input; (b) each output shall be classified according to its output category; (c) for each output, the weight of the allocated input eligible material shall be multiplied by a dual-use factor, which represents the share of the output that remains on the recycling pathway, to obtain the attributed amount of that output, as follows: (i) for outputs of the output category “non-fuels”, the dual-use factor shall be equal to 1; (ii) for outputs of the output category “fuels” and “losses”, the dual-use factor shall be equal to 0; (iii) for outputs of the output category “dual-use outputs”, the dual-use factor shall be: (1) equal to 0 where the output is solid; (2) equal to the share for which the economic operator provides verifiable evidence that it remains on the recycling pathway where the output is liquid or gaseous. 6. After having distributed attributed amounts pursuant to paragraphs 2 to 5, the economic operator may reallocate the attributed amounts among the different outputs subject to the following conditions: (a) attributed amounts are allocated only to outputs for which it is possible to prove that there is a feasible chemical process that allows for the realistic transformation of eligible input into such outputs. (b) the attributed amount of a specific output does not exceed the share of those parts of the output that can come from the used input eligible material; (c) not both the inputs and the outputs are polymers. 7. The maximum period in which mass balance accounting may be carried out is three months. A positive account of attributed amounts may be carried over into the next period. A negative account of attributed amounts shall not be permitted at any time. 8. Mass balance accounting shall be applied for each facility. Attributed amounts shall not be transferred between different facilities of a company or between different companies. 9. The weight of recycled plastic of which Member States collect data from economic operators in accordance with Article 5(1) shall be equal to the attributed amounts that have been allocated to the material that is used in the PET bottles placed on the market.