Late 2024 saw the EU formally adopt the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation — the most consequential packaging law in a generation. Here's what it locks in.
In the closing months of 2024, EU institutions gave final approval to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), the successor to the 1994 packaging directive and the first EU-wide law to make recyclability a hard design requirement. Once it entered into force in February 2025, the countdown began: from August 2026 the regulation applies directly, packaging must be recyclable-by-design by 2030, PFAS limits in food-contact packaging take effect, and empty-space ratio rules push brands toward right-sized packaging.
For pet food exporters, 2024 was the year to start structural transitions — and indeed, converter order books for mono-material pet food structures filled quickly through 2025. The lesson for brands entering Europe now: recyclable mono-material design is no longer a differentiator to consider, it is the entry ticket.
Editorial photographs in this news section are real photographs sourced from Wikimedia Commons and used under the licences stated below. Product mock-ups and factory photography are the property of KindPack Pouch.
