PPWR: what the EU packaging regulation has changed since 12 August 2026
Since 12 August 2026, every package sold in the European Union falls under a single text, Regulation (EU) 2025/40. It does not only concern European manufacturers: it follows the packaging, wherever it comes from.
By Tecmom editorial team · 2 min read
A regulation, no longer a directive
For thirty years, European packaging was governed by Directive 94/62/EC, which each country transposed in its own way. The PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation) replaces it with a regulation: it applies as written in all twenty-seven countries, with no transposition.
Published in the Official Journal on 22 January 2025 and in force since 11 February 2025, it has applied since 12 August 2026. Its obligations then arrive in stages, up to 2040.
What already applies
The text covers packaging placed on the European market, whatever its country of manufacture. The manufacturer must be able to demonstrate conformity through technical documentation; for packaging produced outside the Union, the importer must make sure this has been done. Suppliers of packaging and materials pass on the information needed.
Limits on certain heavy metals remain in place. For food-contact packaging, the regulation adds a restriction on PFAS, highly persistent fluorinated compounds, which are now tolerated only as traces.
Recyclable by 2030, recycled after that
From 2030, packaging will have to be designed for recycling and rated by performance grades; below the lowest grade, it can no longer be sold. From 2035, it will have to be actually recycled at scale.
For plastics, minimum recycled content rates will also apply from 2030, varying by type of packaging, and raised in 2040. Harmonised labelling of composition is planned from 2028. See our article on recycling codes.
What about medicines?
The immediate packaging of medicines, the part that touches the product, is for now exempt from the recyclability and recycled content requirements: its first job remains to protect the medicine. Outer packaging is exempt only where it also serves to preserve the product's quality, and the Commission is due to review these exemptions.
For a packaging manufacturer, the consequence is practical: knowing, for each item, what use it is intended for, and being able to document it. For recycled PET, the rules on food and drug contact materials continue to apply alongside.
The PPWR changes less the way a bottle is made than the way it is described: every package will now have to arrive with its file.
Glossary
- PPWR
- Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2025/40.
- Regulation
- A European act directly applicable in all Member States, without transposition.
- Design for recycling
- Choices of materials, colours and assemblies that allow packaging to be recycled in existing streams.
- PFAS
- Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, highly persistent chemical compounds.