Home / Guides / Page 4
All guides A-Z
242 guides across 20 stations. Each one opens with a label check: the article, the obligation, the start date and who has to act. Page 4 of 6, guides 124 to 164.
Station 20 - Enforcement and compliance operations Penalties: What Non-Compliance Costs, and What It Costs Beyond the Fine Member states set the fines; the framework sets their character. The penalty landscape, the non-fine consequences that usually cost more (withdrawal, delisting, publicity), and how penalty risk should be priced into compliance decisions. Station 18 - Sector: food and beverage PFAS in Food Packaging: Greaseproof Paper, Moulded Fibre and the Thresholds at Work Food-contact packaging is where the Article 5 PFAS thresholds bite first: greaseproof treatments, moulded fibre serviceware, baking papers. Detection, substitution and the supplier conversation, at sector level. Station 07 - Substances and PFAS PFAS in Food-Contact Packaging: The 25 / 250 / 50 Thresholds From 12 August 2026, food-contact packaging at or above the PFAS thresholds may not be placed on the market. What the three numbers measure, how total fluorine screening works, and what evidence a line needs. Station 07 - Substances and PFAS PFAS in Paper and Board: Greaseproofing, Moulded Fibre and the Alternatives Paper's PFAS problem is one application - grease resistance - in wraps, bags, moulded fibre and fast-food board. Where it was used, how to detect it, and the alternative technologies that replaced it in the markets that banned it first. Station 19 - Sector: cosmetics, pharma and industry Pharmaceutical Packaging: Blisters, Child Resistance and the Safety Hierarchy Medicines packaging is validated safety equipment: blister films, child-resistant closures, tamper evidence, Braille, cold chain. How the PPWR's instruments apply where a pack change is a regulatory variation - and where they genuinely do not reach. Station 14 - Restrictions and banned formats Planning the Format Exit: The Portfolio Programme Behind the List Inventory, decide, sequence, run out: the programme that converts Annex V from a legal list into a managed transition - tooling windows, customer conversions, stock discipline and the 2029 readiness audit. Station 12 - Reuse and refill Pooled Pallets and Crates: Joining a System Instead of Building One Pooling operators run the fleets, the depots and the washing for standard transport formats. How pooling contracts work, what the service levels mean, and the estate analysis that decides pool versus own fleet. Station 06 - Recycled content Post-Consumer vs Pre-Consumer: Only One of Them Counts Article 7 counts recycled plastic recovered from post-consumer waste. Production offcuts and in-plant scrap - pre-consumer material - do not. The definitions, the boundary cases, and why the line exists. Station 16 - Member states PPWR by Member State: One Regulation, Twenty-Seven Desks Registration, fees, marks, deposit systems and enforcement are national even under a regulation. The pillar guide to the member-state layer: what varies, where it varies most, and the matrix that keeps a cross-border portfolio lawful. Station 02 - Timeline and application dates PPWR Dates by Role: The Same Calendar, Four Different Jobs Manufacturers, importers, distributors and distance sellers all face the same dates - but each date asks them for something different, on a different lead time. The calendar read four ways. Station 01 - PPWR foundations PPWR Exemptions and Special Cases: What Sits Outside the General Run The PPWR has no general small-business exemption and no sector-wide opt-outs. What it has is a set of specific adjustments - here they are, and how to claim one honestly. Station 19 - Sector: cosmetics, pharma and industry PPWR for Cosmetics, Pharma and Industry: The Sector Guide Three worlds with one trait: the pack is part of a regulated product. Cosmetics' premium constructions, pharma's safety-critical formats, and industry's transport fleets under reuse targets - the sector pillar for the non-food half of the framework. Station 18 - Sector: food and beverage PPWR for Food and Beverage: The Sector Guide Food and drink is where every PPWR chapter lands at once: PFAS limits in food-contact materials, contact-sensitive recycled content, deposit return, reuse in hospitality, and the shelf-life argument that disciplines minimisation. The sector pillar. Station 01 - PPWR foundations PPWR for Small Businesses: What Actually Applies to You No blanket small-business exemption exists - but the real burden is narrower than the headlines. Which duties bite at small scale, which are organised to be survivable, and where relief genuinely lives. Station 01 - PPWR foundations PPWR Key Terms and Definitions, in Plain Language Placing on the market, making available, producer, economic operator, sales and transport packaging, packaging unit: the Article 3 vocabulary the whole regulation runs on. Station 09 - Labelling and marking PPWR Labelling and Marking: The Harmonised Label Era Explained From 2028, one sorting label for the whole Union; from 2029, QR codes on reusables and harmonised recycled-content information. The pillar guide to Articles 11-13 - what appears on the pack, when, and what the national marks do meanwhile. Station 05 - Recyclability and design for recycling PPWR Recyclability Grades Explained: A, B, C and Below Every packaging unit will carry a recyclability grade: A at 95 percent, B at 80, C at 70, and below C is off the market from 2030. How grading works, who assesses it, and what the grade then controls. Station 06 - Recycled content PPWR Recycled Content Targets: The Percentages and What They Attach To Plastic packaging must contain minimum post-consumer recycled content from 2030: 30, 10, 30 and 35 percent by category, rising in 2040. The pillar guide to Article 7 - categories, calculation shape, exemptions and evidence. Station 03 - Roles and responsibilities PPWR Roles and Responsibilities: Who Owes What The regulation assigns every duty to a role - manufacturer, importer, distributor, fulfilment provider, supplier, authorised representative. The map of who owes what, and what happens when one business wears several hats. Station 02 - Timeline and application dates PPWR Timeline: Every Key Date in the Packaging Regulation The PPWR dates that matter, in order: application in August 2026, compostables and labelling in 2028, deposit return in 2029, the 2030 design rules, 2035 at-scale and 2038 grade B. Station 01 - PPWR foundations PPWR vs the Old Packaging Directive: What Actually Changed Directive 94/62/EC governed packaging for thirty years. The regulation that replaces it changes the legal form, the design rules, the paperwork and the enforcement - here is the honest comparison. Station 06 - Recycled content Preparing for 2040: The Second Content Step, Planned From the First 50, 25, 65 and 65 percent: the 2040 targets roughly double the ask. Capacity mathematics, the review between the waves, and why the cheapest 2040 programme is the one designed into the 2030 build. Station 04 - Packaging types and formats Primary Production Packaging: Crates, Trays and Harvest Containers The packaging of unprocessed agricultural and fishery production has its own definition in the PPWR - and its own economics of reuse, hygiene and short loops. What the category covers and how it is treated. Station 13 - Deposit return Producer Launch Checklist: Entering a New Deposit Market Without the Scramble Scope determination, container registration, marking, pricing and till data, reporting integration, launch stock and the first-season watch list. The checklist, in dependency order, for any 2029 market - or any system's extension. Station 11 - EPR and registration Producer Responsibility Organisations: Collective Schemes and Individual Fulfilment Most producers discharge EPR through a PRO: authorised, non-profit or commercial schemes that collect the fees and run the system. Choosing one, contracting well, and the cases where individual fulfilment makes sense. Station 09 - Labelling and marking QR Codes and Data Carriers: The Pack's Digital Layer The regulation treats the data carrier as infrastructure: reusability, substance information, system details and sorting depth behind one code. Architecture, governance and the failure modes of marketing-page QR. Station 05 - Recyclability and design for recycling Recyclability by Material: Five Landscapes Under One Grade Scale The same A-B-C scale reads differently in each material: glass and metal start near the top, paper defends its fibre, plastics split by format, wood plays a different game. The per-material map. Station 02 - Timeline and application dates Recyclability Grade Dates: 2030, 2035 and 2038 Grade C or better in 2030, recycled at scale in 2035, grade B minimum in 2038: the three-step tightening of Article 6, with the delegated-act condition that can move the first step. Station 05 - Recyclability and design for recycling Recyclability Testing and Evidence: Proving a Grade Self-assessment is the law, but evidence is what makes it stand: sortability trials, laboratory reprocessing tests, protocol certifications and how to file them so an auditor can re-perform your grade. Station 05 - Recyclability and design for recycling Recycled at Scale: The 2035 Test That Design Alone Cannot Pass From 2035, packaging must not only be designed for recycling but be recycled in practice, at scale, against Union benchmarks. How the test differs from grading, who it is assessed on, and which formats carry the risk. Station 06 - Recycled content Recycled Content Beyond Plastic: Glass, Metal, Paper and Wood Article 7 mandates percentages only for plastic - because the other materials' content markets already work. How cullet, scrap and recovered fibre actually run, and why 'no mandate' does not mean 'no duties'. Station 06 - Recycled content Recycled Content Claims: What You May Say, and What Must Stand Behind It The voluntary recycled-content label, percentage claims on pack, and the substantiation discipline of green-claims law. Say exactly what the file supports, in the units the consumer understands. Station 02 - Timeline and application dates Recycled Content Dates: The 2030 Targets and the 2040 Step Plastic packaging content minimums in two waves: 2030 (30/10/30/35 percent by category) and 2040 (50/25/65/65). What the percentages attach to, and the 5 percent parts rule. Station 06 - Recycled content Recycled Content Exemptions and Derogations: The Real List Parts under 5 percent, defined medical and pharmaceutical cases, compostable plastics and the supply-shortage derogation mechanism: Article 7's relief valves, and the discipline each one demands. Station 09 - Labelling and marking Recycled Content on the Label: The Harmonised Information Layer Recycled-content information joins the harmonised label family. How the printed figure, its basis and the digital depth fit together - and the artwork decisions to bank in the 2028 round. Station 12 - Reuse and refill Refill in Retail: Stations, Information Duties and the Refill Offer's Design Retailers above the size threshold must make refill work: stations that meet hygiene law, information for consumers, and pricing that does not penalise the refill customer. Designing a refill offer that survives contact with real shoppers. Station 19 - Sector: cosmetics, pharma and industry Refillable Beauty: The Models, the Hygiene File and the Rotation Truth Refillable compacts, durable bottles with refill pouches, in-store refill bars: cosmetics' reuse avant-garde examined as systems - rotations, hygiene, the refill format's own profile, and claims that survive their arithmetic. Station 11 - EPR and registration Registering in Every Member State You Sell: The Producer Register Process One registration per market of placing, an authorised representative where you are not established, and the information the register demands. The process, state by state, without the gaps that stop shipments. Station 11 - EPR and registration Reporting Placed Quantities: The Data Duty Behind the Fees Tonnes by material and category, per state, per cycle - from your sales and packaging data. Building the reporting pipeline: sources, category mapping, derecognition of exports and returns, and the audit trail. Station 18 - Sector: food and beverage Retailer Private Label: Where Food Packaging Decisions Are Actually Made Own-brand ranges are the food sector's largest packaging portfolio, and retailers run them as programmes: specification systems, supplier scorecards, packaging taxes passed down the chain. A supplier's guide to the programme - and a retailer's to running it well. Station 13 - Deposit return Retailer Take-Back Duties: Who Must Accept Returns, and the Small-Shop Reliefs Sellers of deposit containers take them back - that is the system's front door. The duty's shape, the reliefs for small sales areas, return-point obligations for distance sellers, and designing take-back that customers love rather than endure.