The PPWR is taking shape: How the new laws detail implementation

With the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), the EU is setting the course for a more sustainable packaging industry. The purposes of the regulation are to reduce packaging waste, promote recycling and increase the use of recycled materials. However, many details related to implementation are still undetermined and will be specified in the coming years through secondary legislation.

The European Commission is currently working on almost 50 such acts which detail, for instance, how to calculate percentages of recycled materials or which design-for-recycling criteria must be fulfilled. Most of these secondary laws will be developed between 2026 and 2028.

One key element of the new regulation is that packaging must be designed from the start to be recyclable. Article 6 of the PPWR stipulates that packaging materials must meet certain design criteria to be considered recyclable - a concept known as “design for material recycling.” This means that materials and packaging designs must be chosen so that they can be integrated efficiently into existing recycling processes.

For companies this means that, in the future, only packaging materials that meet these requirements may be brought on the market. Therefore, manufacturers must ensure that their packaging materials continue to conform to requirements in the long term.

Article 6(4) of the PPWR defines, for instance, which packaging materials will be classified as recyclable in the future. 

Standards developed by the European standardization institute CEN play a central role – in addition to design criteria, they also include reference processes for sorting and recycling that facilitate uniform assessment. This method is based on a traffic light system that sorts packaging materials into different categories – from easy to recycle (green) to non-recyclable (red). The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is supporting this process, and converting the traffic light system into a metric system in a second step. This can be used to evaluate the recyclability of the packaging as a whole and assign it to one of the categories defined in the PPWR, such as A, B, or C. This two-step process will be developed by 2028, and will form the framework for classifying packaging materials under the PPWR.

Implementing the PPWR will pose a variety of new challenges for companies. Packaging requirements will develop step by step, and upcoming delegated acts will create binding standards that will apply throughout the EU.

As a company dealing intensively with sustainable packaging solutions, we actively contribute our expertise to the relevant working groups and work closely with national standardization institutes such as the Austrian Standards and DIN. In this way, we are supporting the development of the new standards from the start, and can react early on to important changes. This close collaboration not only helps us make sound decisions for developing our own packaging solutions, but also allows us to help shape practical and economically feasible solutions for the entire industry.