The PPWR now applies. Are you ready?
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) applies from today, 12th of August 2026.
Compliance is the immediate requirement, but the wider ambition is clear: use less packaging, reduce the use of primary raw materials and move towards more circular packaging systems.
What applies from today?
The PPWR covers all packaging placed on the EU market, regardless of its material or origin. For fashion and textile businesses, this includes for example polybags, hangtags, boxes, hangers, master cartons and e-commerce mailers.
So, from today, manufacturers must:
- Carry out a conformity assessment for each packaging type
- Maintain the required technical documentation
- Issue an EU Declaration of Conformity
- Ensure packaging can be identified and carries the required manufacturer details
- Demonstrate that packaging has been minimised in weight and volume
- Comply with limiting hazardous chemicals
Importers and distributors must, in turn, verify that the packaging they place on or make available to the EU market meets the relevant requirements.
Further obligations will follow
Harmonised labelling requirements, recyclability performance grades, minimum recycled-content levels, packaging reduction targets and reuse requirements will be phased in over the coming years, with several major requirements taking effect from 2030.
Reliable packaging data starts at the source
Packaging information is often spread across suppliers, internal systems, spreadsheets and individual documents. As a result, businesses may know which packaging they use but don’t have all the underlying data needed to substantiate its compliance.
Introducing the tex.tracer PPWR module
Over the past months, we have researched the PPWR and worked directly with clients to understand their packaging data and compliance challenges. This input has shaped the new PPWR module currently in development within the tex.tracer platform.
The module allows businesses to collect packaging data directly from their value chain partners, to reduce workload and structure as well as manage the data as the PPWR takes effect.
The data is authenticated at the source and secured using blockchain technology, creating a reliable foundation for technical documentation, compliance and future packaging decisions. This turns packaging data into more than evidence for a Declaration of Conformity. It provides the insight to work towards reduction, reuse and better design.
Compliance is the starting point. Better packaging decisions are the longer-term opportunity.
Explore the PPWR in more detail
Want to understand what the PPWR means for your organisation?
Download our detailed overview for a breakdown of the different roles and responsibilities, the main obligations and the implementation timeline through 2040.
Want to explore how the tex.tracer PPWR module can support your packaging data and compliance processes? Click here to book a demo
