We Are Ready — Reflections on the Eve of PPWR Full Application
On August 12, 2026, the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR, EU 2025/40) will become fully applicable. This marks the official upgrade of EU packaging governance from a "Directive" to a "Regulation" — directly legally binding across all Member States. We are now less than a month away from that date.
A few days ago, I sat down with colleagues from our Packaging Development, Quality, and foreign trade teams for a dedicated PPWR internal training and work review session. To be honest, the purpose was not to "start from scratch." We have been tracking this regulation for quite some time.
PPWR entered into force on February 11, 2025, and we were studying the full text line by line right from the beginning. By now, we have developed a clear understanding of the five pillars of PPWR: source Reduction and Minimisation, Reuse and Refill, design for Recycling, Material Safety and hazardous substance control, and market implementation mechanisms. We have also translated these requirements into an internal design review checklist, which we will run through for every new packaging project going forward — no exceptions, no omissions.
More importantly, understanding the regulation ourselves is only half the job. Over the past months, we have proactively reached out to several of our key European customers to align our interpretation of PPWR with theirs. We have had in-depth discussions on packaging material alternatives for our existing product lines, how to operationalise the PCR supply chain, plastic reduction pathways, and the critical compliance milestones we need to hit — and by when. The feedback from our customers has been positive; they recognise and appreciate the level of preparedness we have demonstrated.
On a personal note: PPWR sets high standards and the timeline is tight, but this does not rattle us. We have spent twenty years in this industry — from dishwasher consumables to laundry pod packaging — and every generation of product has come with its own packaging challenges and regulatory shifts. Regulations only get stricter; what matters is whether you stay ahead of the curve. This time, I believe we are.
Moving forward, we will execute step by step according to the PPWR requirements and the compliance roadmap we have agreed upon with our customers, ensuring that every shipment to Europe stands up to regulatory scrutiny — packaging and all.