Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation

Introduction

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) is a comprehensive legislative act that repeals Directive 94/62/EC to harmonise packaging rules across the EU internal market. Adopted in December 2024 and published in January 2025, it addresses the entire life-cycle of packaging, aiming to tackle the increasing generation of packaging waste and the barriers to circularity.

Main Goal

The Regulation aims to prevent the generation of packaging waste, boost high-quality recycling, and create a market for secondary raw materials. It establishes requirements to ensure that all packaging on the EU market is reusable or recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030.

Who It Applies To

The Regulation applies to all packaging, regardless of the material used, and to all packaging waste. It affects:

• Manufacturers & Importers: Must ensure packaging meets sustainability requirements (recyclability, recycled content, minimization).
• Distributors & Fulfilment Service Providers: Must verify compliance and share information.
• HORECA Sector: Specific obligations regarding refill and bans on certain single-use formats.
• Online Platforms: Must ensure compliance of products sold through their interfaces.

Key Dates

• Entry into Force: 11 February 2025.
• General Application: 12 August 2026.
• Recyclability & Recycled Content Targets: 1 January 2030.
• Deposit Return Systems (DRS): 1 January 2029.
• Restrictions on Formats: 1 January 2030.

Exemptions

• Medical Devices & Pharma: Specific contact-sensitive packaging is exempted from certain recycled content and re-use targets to ensure safety.
• Micro-enterprises: Exempted from certain re-use targets and restrictions on specific packaging formats if technically not feasible.

Key Provisions

• Substances of Concern: Restrictions on substances like PFAS in food-contact packaging and heavy metals.
• Recyclability: By 2030, all packaging must be recyclable by design (Grades A, B, or C). By 2035, it must be "recycled at scale."
• Recycled Content: Mandatory minimum targets for post-consumer recycled content in plastic packaging (scaling up from 2030 to 2040).
• Compostable Packaging: Mandatory for specific applications (e.g., tea bags, sticky labels) by 2028; restrictions on others.
• Packaging Minimisation: Packaging must be reduced to the minimum weight/volume necessary. Empty space ratio for transport/e-commerce packaging limited to 50%.
• Re-use Targets: Mandatory targets for transport, grouped, and beverage packaging.
• Deposit Return Systems (DRS): Mandatory for single-use plastic bottles and metal cans by 2029 (90% collection target).

Obligations & Requirements

1. Design: Compliance with Design for Recycling (DfR) criteria and minimization of empty space.
2. Labelling: Harmonised labels for material composition (for sorting) and reusability (QR codes/digital data).
3. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): Producers must register and pay fees modulated by the packaging's recyclability and recycled content.
4. Information: Reporting on packaging waste generation and prevention.

Penalties

Member States must lay down rules on penalties, which must be effective, proportionate, and dissuasive. Non-compliant packaging may be prohibited, withdrawn, or recalled from the market.