EN 13592
EN 13592 — plastic sacks for waste collection
How a refuse sack size is written, what the drop test classifies, and the three things buyers assume the standard sets that it does not.
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- CEN
- Current edition
- 2017
- Status
- Current
- Legally required
- Voluntary
- Last reviewed
- 19 August 2026
EN 13592 is the European standard for plastic sacks used to collect household waste. It is voluntary — no law requires a sack to comply — but it is the only common language the trade has for stating a size, and almost every specification you will see uses its notation whether or not it says so.
What it actually gives you
A way to write a size that cannot be misread
Two numbers, both in millimetres, both measured on the sack laid flat:
- P — usable width. Half the circumference of the tube.
- L — usable length. Rim to base, before gathering.
So 500/700 is a sack 500 mm wide and 700 mm long as it lies. The order never varies, and neither figure includes the seam or the top fold.
If a specification gives three numbers, the middle one is a gusset and the sack is not a plain tube.
A performance classification
The standard sets out test methods — chiefly a drop test with a defined fill and a defined height — and classifies sacks by whether they survive them. This is the part that turns “heavy duty” from a marketing word into something measurable.
It is also the part almost nobody buys against, because testing costs money and most purchasing decisions are made on thickness instead.
What it does not do
Three assumptions worth correcting, because all three appear in real specifications:
It does not set a thickness. A sack that satisfies the standard can be 12 microns or 125. The duty classes buyers use in conversation — light, medium, heavy, extra heavy — are trade convention, not the standard speaking.
It does not set a colour. Clinical and offensive waste colour coding comes from national waste rules and from whoever collects it, not from here.
It does not make a sack legal or illegal. Compliance is a claim about performance, not permission to sell.
How to use it in a specification
Cite the size in its notation, then state everything else yourself:
700/1100 EN 13592, 40 µm LDPE, black, star sealed, 20 per roll, 10 rolls per case, 60 cases per pallet.
That sentence is unambiguous to any manufacturer in Europe. “240 litre heavy duty black sack” is not — it is three words of marketing and a litre figure that no standard defines.
If you want to hold a supplier to performance rather than to dimensions, ask for the drop-test classification and the test report. Expect to be quoted for it.