PPWR implementation timeline overview
- PPWR became enforceable on 12 August 2026, introducing PFAS limits
- Compostable packaging requirements start February 2028 for selected items
- Harmonised packaging labels begin August 2028, improving consumer sorting
- Reusable packaging labels and QR code information arrive 2029
- Recycled plastic content thresholds apply from 2030, rising later
The European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is a wide-ranging piece of legislation covering recycling, compostability, limits on levels of PFAS (forever chemicals) and labelling.
While the regulation is now enforceable, in practice much of it isn’t. Many of its provisions will be rolled in over time.
It is important for manufacturers to know when this will be in advance, so they can better plan their packaging strategies.
12 August 2026 – PFAS limits are introduced
As of 12 August 2026, PPWR is enforceable. This means that several of its key provisions must now be complied with. The regulation is now relevant to companies across Europe.
The most prominent of these is PFAS limits on food contact packaging.
From 12 August, PFAS limits in food contact packaging will apply, limiting polymeric PFAS to 50 parts per million (ppm), each individual non-polymeric PFAS to 25 parts per billion (ppb) and the sum total of non-polymeric PFAS to 250 ppb.
Non-polymeric PFAS is both smaller and considered more harmful than polymeric PFAS, and is considered more harmful as well, according to the University of Rhode Island.
12 February 2028 – Compostable packaging rules introduced
From 12 February 2028, tea and coffee bags and other single-serve tea and coffee units, along with sticky labels placed on fruit and vegetables, are required to be compostable rather than recyclable.
They should be compatible with the standard for composting in industrially controlled conditions in bio-waste treatment facilities, as well as, where required by Member States, home-composting conditions.
The Commission requests that conditions of home-composting, such as retention times, temperatures and stirring, should be taken into account when standardisation organisations are drawing up standards for home composting. Home composting is often different from industrially controlled composting.
12 August 2028 – Harmonised labelling
Packaging placed on the market should have a harmonised label denoting its material composition from 12 August 2028, or 24 months after the entry into force of the implementing acts telling the European Commission to develop these labels. An implementing act ensures that EU laws are applied the same way across EU countries.
These harmonised labels should be based on pictograms and easy to understand for anyone, including those with disabilities. They will enable consumers to sort packaging by material.
Further harmonised labelling rules, such as those referring to substances of concern and relating to deposit returns schemes, will be introduced at later dates.
12 February 2029 – Labels for reusable packaging
Packaging placed on the EU market from 12 February 2029, or 30 months after the relevant implementing act, should bear a label telling users that the packaging is reusable.
More information about the packaging’s reusability, including whether there is an available local, national or Union-wide re-use system, shall be made available through a QR code.
Reusable packaging should be clearly distinguished from single-use packaging at point of sale.
1 January 2030 – Minimum recycled content in plastic packaging
By 1 January 2030, or three years after the implementing act telling the Commission to set out its methodology, the PPWR’s rules on the minimum recycled content to be included in plastic packaging will be applicable.
Contact-sensitive packaging made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) must constitute 30% recycled content, while the threshold is 10% for contact-sensitive packaging made from plastic other than PET. Both of these thresholds exclude single-use plastic bottles.
Single-use plastic bottles must contain 30% recycled content. For all plastic packaging that falls outside these three parameters, the threshold is 35%.
These thresholds will go up on 1 January 2040; contact-sensitive packaging made from PET must include 50% recycled content, contact-sensitive packaging from other materials must be 25%, single-use plastic bottles must be 65% and other plastic packaging must be 65%.
The PPWR is a complex regulation with many components. It is sure to change packaging in Europe forever.
