How can recycling-friendly packaging design be implemented when the central requirements of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) are still in flux? Gunda Rachut, CEO of the Central Agency Packaging Register (ZSVR), posed this question in her presentation at Future Resources 2025 in Cologne - and gave a deep insight into the current situation between European requirements and national implementation reality.
Rachut uses a metaphorical comparison to describe the new regulation as a „maize maze“: Everyone sees something different in it - from sabre-toothed tigers to koalas. Her focus is on recycling-friendly design. She emphasises that many of the requirements of the PPWR are by no means new: The old Packaging Directive already contained binding requirements in the form of the so-called Essential Requirements, which are already enshrined in the Packaging Act in Germany - albeit without any tangible sanctions. Now these obligations are to be concretised by the PPWR and underpinned for the first time with administrative offences and market surveillance.
Rachut explains the ambitious timetable: National implementation laws, technical documentation and assessment procedures must be in place within a few months - a challenge for both authorities and companies. Manufacturers with a wide range of products are particularly affected: thousands of packages have to be assessed, documented and, if necessary, converted. In addition, new declarations of conformity have to be drawn up without any standardised test methods or standards.
In terms of content, the presentation will focus on the minimum standard for recyclability, which the ZSVR has revised to anticipate the requirements of the PPWR. Rachut will show how manufacturers will be able to assess their packaging in future - from the proportion of recyclable materials and incompatibilities to cross-material standards. She also calls for more transparency in the supply chain: In future, suppliers would have to disclose which materials they use so that producers and distributors can act in accordance with the law.
With regard to the European level, Rachut describes the parallel processes between CEN/CENELEC and the EU Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), which are working on assessment methods and standards - but so far without clear results. Her conclusion: companies should prepare early to avoid being overrun by regulation. This is because recyclability will become a market-relevant requirement from August 2026.
The presentation is a recording of Future Resources 2025, organised by Interzero and packaging journal in cooperation with interpack.