PPWR: the EU packaging regulation, explained for food packaging

By the Compost Ready editors · Updated 12 October 2026

The PPWR, Regulation (EU) 2025/40, replaces the EU's 1994 packaging directive with one set of rules that applies directly in every Member State. It has applied since 12 August 2026, but many of its biggest obligations phase in between 2028 and 2040.

This page explains the regulation in general terms. It is not legal advice. Dates and details can be adjusted by implementing acts and Commission guidance, so check the official text before making compliance decisions.

What the PPWR is

The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation is the EU's main law on packaging. Because it is a regulation rather than a directive, it doesn't need to be written into national law first. The same text applies in all 27 Member States, which is the point: packaging rules had drifted apart country by country, and companies selling across borders were dealing with a patchwork.

The European Commission sums up its aims as making all packaging on the EU market recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030, increasing the safe use of recycled plastic, and cutting the use of virgin materials. The background is a waste problem that keeps growing. According to the Commission, packaging waste reached a record 186.5 kg per person in the EU in 2022. Packaging also accounts for about 40% of the plastics used in the EU and around half of marine litter.

Key dates

Some of these dates are tied to implementing acts. The recycled content targets, for example, apply from 1 January 2030 or three years after the calculation method is adopted, whichever is later.

Rules on compostable packaging

Article 9 is the part that matters most for bio-based and compostable materials. By 12 February 2028, three groups of items must be compostable under controlled industrial conditions in bio-waste treatment facilities:

• permeable tea, coffee and other beverage bags;
• soft single-serve units for beverage systems that are used and disposed of together with the product;
• sticky labels attached to fruit and vegetables.

Member States can additionally require these items to be home compostable. They can also require other formats, such as non-permeable coffee capsules, to be compostable, provided they have suitable collection and treatment for bio-waste.

The logic is the one we describe in compostable vs biodegradable: these are items that end up soaked in food or drink and are almost impossible to recycle, so composting them with the food waste is the realistic end of life. Outside these cases, the default under the PPWR is recyclability.

Recyclability and recycled content

From 2030, packaging must be designed for recycling, judged against criteria the Commission is setting by packaging category. Later, packaging also has to be actually recycled at scale, not just recyclable in theory.

For plastic packaging, minimum recycled content applies from 2030. The levels are:

"Contact-sensitive" covers food packaging, which is why the target for non-PET food packaging is the lowest: food-grade recycled plastic other than PET is still hard to get. Recycled content is measured as post-consumer plastic, averaged per manufacturing plant and year.

Restrictions on formats

From 1 January 2030, certain single-use plastic packaging formats are restricted. The ones food businesses will notice include:

• single-use plastic packaging for less than 1.5 kg of fresh fruit and vegetables, such as nets, bags and trays, with possible exemptions where the pack is needed to prevent water loss, microbiological risks, physical damage or oxidation;
• single-use plastic portions and sachets of condiments and sauces in hotels, restaurants and cafés;
• single-use plastic packaging for food and drink filled and eaten on the premises in the hospitality sector.

The PPWR also restricts PFAS in food-contact packaging above set thresholds. And takeaway businesses will have to let customers bring their own containers at no extra charge.

Labelling

The PPWR introduces harmonised labels showing what a pack is made of, with matching labels on waste bins, so people can sort it properly. The label designs are set by implementing act and the labelling duty follows later. Environmental claims on packaging also have to respect the EU's rules on green claims, which ban vague claims such as "eco-friendly" without recognised proof.

What food businesses should check now

Every company is different, but if you sell packed food in the EU, these are reasonable first questions. Some of them have a simple answer, others will take months, because their are dependencies on suppliers and on Commission guidance still to come.

1. List your packaging. Every format, every material, every supplier. You can't assess what you haven't listed.
2. Check PFAS. This applies already. Ask suppliers of paper and board packaging in particular for written confirmation.
3. Find your Article 9 items. Tea bags, coffee pods and fruit stickers need a compostable solution by February 2028.
4. Check fresh produce and food-service formats. If you pack small quantities of fruit and vegetables in plastic, or serve condiments in plastic sachets, plan the change before 2030.
5. Ask about recyclability and recycled content. Get suppliers' views on how each pack will score, and whether food-grade recycled material is available.
6. Review your claims. Remove any "biodegradable" or "eco" claim that you cannot back with a named standard or certificate.

For the materials side of these decisions, our guide to biodegradable food packaging explains which materials fit which job.