EU packaging rules push food-service suppliers toward redesign from 12 August

EU starts a long-term packaging overhaul

The European Union’s new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, or PPWR, enters into force on 12 August, beginning a multi-year change in how packaging is designed, manufactured and managed. According to La Opinión de Murcia, the regulation’s main requirements will be introduced progressively through 2030 and 2035, giving manufacturers time to replace formats and adapt production processes.

The regulation is intended to reduce packaging’s environmental impact, expand reuse and ensure that products placed on the EU market become increasingly recyclable. One of its central milestones is scheduled for 2030, when packaging will need to meet minimum recyclability levels established by European rules to remain marketable.

This makes compliance a market-access issue rather than simply a waste-management obligation. Packaging that fails to reach the required recyclability thresholds will no longer be allowed on the market, putting pressure on producers to review materials, dimensions and manufacturing systems well before the deadline.

Single-dose formats face progressive removal

Food-service and hospitality businesses will be directly affected by the progressive disappearance of some single-dose packaging used in hotels and other establishments. The changes will not happen immediately, and the source does not specify a single date for removing every condiment or food-service format. Instead, implementation will depend on the regulation’s timetable and additional delegated and implementing acts.

Those acts will define how recyclability is measured and what technical requirements each packaging category must satisfy. Until those details are completed, suppliers must prepare for redesign while working with an incomplete technical framework. Juan Carlos Arranz, Ecoembes manager in the Region of Murcia, told La Opinión de Murcia that companies need to begin preparing now, even though the full change is not due immediately.

For packaging manufacturers, adaptation may involve more than exchanging one material for another. Some formats may have to be eliminated, while others will require new designs or changes across complete production processes. Restaurants, hotels and their distributors will also need dispensing or service alternatives where individual portions are withdrawn.

Small suppliers face a heavier adjustment

Large companies have spent years incorporating sustainability policies, but smaller and medium-sized businesses may find the transition more difficult. Ecoembes says it is supporting companies with technical advice, training and tools for evaluating packaging’s environmental performance. Its Circular Lab innovation centre examines the full packaging life cycle, from design through recycling.

The exposure is particularly relevant in the Region of Murcia, where agriculture and food processing are major economic activities and hundreds of businesses are connected to packaging. Ecoembes works with 571 participating companies in the region. Murcia recycled 47,193 tonnes of household packaging last year, achieving a rate of 78.3% and exceeding legal recycling objectives for materials including paper and cardboard, steel, aluminium, plastic and wood.

Common labels and stricter market access

The PPWR also provides for common pictograms on packaging and waste containers across Europe, indicating where each item should be discarded. Spain already uses a broadly uniform colour system, while practices differ elsewhere in Europe.

Recent measures such as caps attached to bottles, reduced plastic content, mandatory recycled material and the removal of certain single-use products indicate the direction of travel. For producers and food-service suppliers, the immediate task is to identify formats with weak recyclability and decide whether they can be redesigned at a viable cost before access to the EU market becomes conditional on compliance.