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The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation comes into effect in August 2026. How will it impact printers, and what do you need to do to ensure you are compliant? Sustainability consultant Rachel England outlines everything you need to know.

The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) aims to make all packaging on the EU market recyclable by 2030, and to reduce the overall volume of packaging. It will be applicable from 12 August 2026 with key compliance milestones in 2030, 2035 and 2040.

The regulation revises the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD), which was adopted in the 1990s and has seen several revisions since. The shift from directive to regulation is important. While directives give a certain degree of leeway to EU countries when implementing EU rules, regulations promote a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach which enforces set rules to be followed everywhere in the same way.

Key targets for the PPWR

As a central element of the EU’s environmental policy agenda, the PPWR will bring significant changes to the way we design, consume and dispose of packaging in the EU. It includes key targets on:

Recyclable packaging
• All packaging in the EU will need to be recyclable by 2030.
• All packaging will need to comply with Design for Recycling criteria, to be defined in secondary legislation.
• Extended Producer Responsibility fees to be paid by businesses will be based on recyclability performance grades.

Reuse and refill
• Forthcoming legislation will outline reuse and refill targets for several types of packaging (such as food and drink, and transport) from 2030. Cardboard packaging will be excluded from reuse targets.
Packaging minimisation
• By 1 January 2030 there will be a maximum 50% empty space ratio for grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging.
• Packaging misleading consumers into believing the product is larger than it actually is (such as double walls and false bottoms) will be banned.

A plastic packaging ban
• From 1 January 2030 plastic packaging covering a range of applications will be banned, including shrink wrap and collation film used to group products together, for fresh fruit and vegetables below 1.5kg, and for food and drink consumed in premises in the hospitality sector.

What does PPWR mean for the print industry?

As with many of the EU’s sustainability regulations, printers will likely find themselves in scope of the…

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