---
title: "Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)"
description: "Regulation (EU) 2025/40 establishes requirements for the entire life cycle of packaging as regards environmental sustainability and labelling, together with rules on extended producer responsibility, packaging waste prevention, re-use and recycling; it applies from 12 August 2026 and replaces Directive 94/62/EC."
type: "glossary"
url: "https://www.conphora.com/research/glossary/packaging-and-packaging-waste-regulation/"
markdown: "https://www.conphora.com/research/glossary/packaging-and-packaging-waste-regulation.md"
locale: "en"
language: "en"
updated: "2026-09-22"
author: "Conphora compliance team"
publisher: "Conphora"
tags: ["packaging", "sustainability"]
license: "Free to quote with attribution and a link to the page"
---

# Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 establishes requirements for the entire life cycle of packaging as regards environmental sustainability and labelling, together with rules on extended producer responsibility, packaging waste prevention, re-use and recycling; it applies from 12 August 2026 and replaces Directive 94/62/EC.

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 replaces the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive 94/62/EC with directly applicable rules. Article 1 describes its content: requirements for the entire life cycle of packaging as regards environmental sustainability and labelling, as a condition for placing it on the market, and requirements for extended producer responsibility, packaging waste prevention, including the reduction of unnecessary packaging and re-use or refill, and the collection and treatment, including recycling, of packaging waste. Packaging is defined broadly in Article 3 as any item, irrespective of material, intended to contain, protect, handle, deliver or present products to another economic operator or an end user.

Chapter II sets the sustainability requirements: restrictions on substances of concern, the rule in Article 6 that all packaging placed on the market shall be recyclable, which applies from 1 January 2030 once the Commission has adopted the design-for-recycling criteria and performance grades by delegated act, minimum recycled content for plastic packaging, compostability rules and packaging minimisation. Chapter III adds labelling: from 12 August 2028 packaging must carry a harmonised label on its material composition to help consumers sort it (Article 12). Chapter V sets re-use targets and refill obligations, and Chapter VIII organises extended producer responsibility (Article 45) and the register of producers that each Member State must keep (Article 44). Manufacturers, importers and distributors of packaging are economic operators with their own obligations, and Chapter VII provides for a conformity assessment procedure and an EU declaration of conformity for packaging.

The regulation was published on 22 January 2025, entered into force on 11 February 2025 and applies from 12 August 2026, when Directive 94/62/EC is repealed (Article 71). For a company placing packaged products on the market, the first steps are to identify itself as a producer under Article 3(15), register in each Member State where it is one, and prepare its packaging portfolio for the recyclability and labelling requirements.

## Legislation

- PPWR: [Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Art. 1, Art. 3, Art. 6, Art. 12, Art. 44, Art. 45, Art. 71](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32025R0040)

## Sources

- [Regulation (EU) 2025/40 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2024 on packaging and packaging waste](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32025R0040)
- [European Commission, Packaging waste](https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/waste-and-recycling/packaging-waste_en)