EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)
The EU has replaced the old packaging directive with a regulation: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, commonly called the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation or PPWR.
This is not a tweak, it’s a directly binding legal framework which changes how packaging must be designed, documented and marketed across the single market.
What makes the PPWR different is its scope and legal force. Whereas the previous Directive set member-state goals, the PPWR is a regulation. Its rules apply uniformly across all 27 EU member states and affect everyone placing packaging (and packaged products) on the EU market. The text covers the full lifecycle of packaging including design and composition, prevention and reuse requirements, labelling and consumer information, substance restrictions, and new obligations for documentation and conformity.
The Timeline Matters
The PPWR entered the EU legal framework in early 2025 and its application is phased. Many obligations are active immediately or from mid-2026, while the tougher design, labelling and recyclability grading rules are phased in over the late 2020s and around 2030. The staged roll-out is intended to give business time to adapt, but it also creates several concrete windows where companies must be ready to supply documentation, change packaging artwork, or meet mandatory recycled content thresholds.
Some of the new, business-facing features to watch for
The PPWR makes a handful of practical changes that procurement, packaging and compliance teams will feel first.
First : Packaging will require a conformity assessment and an EU Declaration of Conformity, effectively a technical dossier showing the packaging meets the Regulation’s requirements.
Second : Harmonised labelling rules will set consistent expectations for recyclability, materials and reuse information (the detailed label formats and timing are still to be defined by the Commission’s implementing acts).
Third : Recyclability grading and mandatory recycled-content targets make material choices a compliance decision rather than just a sustainability aspiration.
Finally : Restrictions on substances of concern (for example PFAS and other problematic additives) will tighten which materials can be used in certain applications.
Why this matters in everyday terms
If your business imports packaged goods into the EU, or fills packaging in the EU, you will sooner or later need to show documented evidence your packaging meets the new requirements. This means more paperwork upfront (technical files, test results, LCA data where required), clearer product labelling, and a heavier emphasis on either designing for recyclability or switching to reuse systems.
The commercial effect is twofold. Some packaging formats will become more expensive or technically impractical, while certified reusable systems and simpler mono-material formats will gain an operational and compliance advantage.
What companies should be doing now (practical, immediate steps)
- Start with a quick mapping exercise. Identify the packaging formats which carry the most volume or regulatory risk and collect the documentation you already have for them.
- Prioritise conversions or pilots for the highest-volume flows (where a move to more recyclable design or a reusable solution gives the biggest legal and commercial return).
- Prepare to update artwork and labels when harmonised rules land, and ask suppliers for written evidence of recycled content, material specifications, and cleaning/traceability data where reuse is involved.
- Treat conformity dossiers as living documents: allocate ownership, version control and a place in your technical file system so regulators or buyers can find evidence quickly.
A short note on timelines and practical risk
Timing is not a reason to delay. The phased approach gives weeks and months to prepare, not years.
Key deadlines mean by 2030 many packaging categories will face stricter marketability tests (recyclability grades, minimum recycled content), and harmonised labelling requirements are due sooner rather than later. If your supply chain needs tooling, liner-certification, or alternative materials, lead times are often measured in months.
Treat the next 12–24 months as your action window for the heaviest lift.