The trade magazine for the packaging industry
INSIGHTS INTO THE PACKAGING
Will it work out?
This popular saying in Austria not only refers to the general possibility of something working out, but also implies an optimistic and positive mood, in the sense of ‚it will probably work out and be good for everyone involved‘.
It is highly doubtful that the answer to this is a clear yes when this question is posed in connection with the European Packaging Ordinance (PPWR).
No matter how you look at it, when it comes to implementing the new PPWR in practice, neither positive calendar slogans nor the hope of postponement, ducking away, nor pretending or actual cluelessness will help.
The new obligations and responsibilities of this law represent nothing other than a turning point in the assessment, significance and ultimately the handling of packaging.
And yet they are simply packaging! It protects, helps with sales, informs consumers, is used for logistics and storage and sometimes also for the preparation and further processing of products. No product without packaging! And in the near future, from August 2026: no product without a declaration of compliance for the packaging!
Can that work out? Well, time pressure, uncertainty and confusion about who has to do what and when are counterproductive in themselves, and to make matters worse, the European regulations have not yet regulated everything. The methods, assessment formulae and guidelines are being drawn up and published one by one.
The first fixed deadline is 12 August 2026. In just nine months, companies - in PPWR-speak: producers - must already be able to prepare a conformity assessment, i.e. the technical documentation of their packaging, and a resulting declaration of conformity. „How now? Did you just say that there are no methods and specifications yet? What are we supposed to write in there?“
Ideally, all content that is necessary for the future declaration of conformity of the packaging in accordance with Articles 5 to 12 of the PPWR. And not as prose, but as data in format 0 or 1.
Think of the PPWR project like building a house. You know you need a stable, secure foundation, walls and a roof. You can only decide gradually how many windows you want to install and what colour you want the façade or roof tiles to be. Your foundation is your database. You should now start collecting your packaging specifications and other necessary content as digital data. Existing gaps can be closed along the way. This will get you ready to make decisions as soon as methods and evaluation schemes are published, i.e. to build your walls, so to speak.
With a solid basis of data, you remain capable of acting even if the building regulations say that no windows are allowed in a wall. And perhaps lightweight construction will suffice for the remaining parts of the house. With your thoroughly constructed foundation, you are prepared and no matter how long it takes to build the house, it will remain your secure anchor for a customised, protective building that provides a safe home for your brands and products.
So is it working out well after all? Yes, if companies now actively seize the opportunity and invest in digitalisation and data management, which have been neglected for too long, the house will be ready quickly and there will be more time for the design and presentation of the garden. In other words, for marketing and selling the products, because packaging conformity is well regulated.
Sonja Bähr is one of the most prominent voices in the packaging industry.
The packaging technology graduate and long-standing strategy consultant brings together technical expertise and a clear attitude - she thinks about packaging holistically, from the perspective of the market, brand, material and people.
In her column "Presented - insights into packaging" she looks behind the headlines and standardised texts for packaging journal - and at what packaging is supposed to do in practice: protect, sell, simplify and inspire. Sometimes opinionated, sometimes tongue-in-cheek - but always technically sound.
🎯 Regularly a new impulse for the discussion about sustainability, regulation, innovation and reality in the world of packaging.
