Rethink Plastic condemns last-minute industry attempt to weaken and re-negotiate Packaging regulation

The Rethink Plastic Alliance fully supports the reaction of our member Zero Waste Europe:

“Just four months before the application of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which is meant to begin on 12 August 2026, a group of single-use packaging industry players is, once again, attempting to delay their obligations and reopen political negotiations on rules that were already agreed after years of legislative debate.

In a letter sent privately to EU institutions on the week of 27 April 2026, industry representatives call for a postponement of key provisions and a targeted review of the Regulation’s core requirements. Rather than focusing on implementation and compliance, this appears to be a last-minute attempt to weaken and re-negotiate agreed measures designed to reduce packaging waste, improve recyclability, and accelerate Europe’s transition away from unnecessary single-use packaging.

While Zero Waste Europe acknowledges the challenges the packaging sector faces in adapting to new regulatory frameworks, we firmly oppose any attempts to adjust/postpone the 12 August 2026 application date, or to reopen the PPWR for a targeted review. 

Such moves would not only undermine the legal certainty of the Single Market but also jeopardise the urgent environmental progress the EU has committed to achieving through the PPWR, which also aims at increasing the circularity of the sector, helping to reduce dependency on third countries.

1. Legal integrity and the co-decision process: the PPWR is the result of a rigorous co-decision process involving the European Parliament, the Council, and the Commission. It has undergone extensive scrutiny, public consultation, and democratic debate. To now seek a reopening of the legislation simply because the industry finds the timeline challenging sets a dangerous precedent. It suggests that once a law is democratically enacted, it remains subject to revision under lobbying pressure rather than achieving legal finality. Legally, the application date is not a mere suggestion; it is a binding provision of the Regulation. Postponing it would violate the principle of legal certainty and the integrity of the EU’s legislative framework, including the EU’s ability to enforce its own rules.
2. The Commission has already provided clarity: the European Commission has already “heard” the industry’s concerns and has recently published the guidance documents and FAQs to help companies navigate the transition. The availability of this robust guidance demonstrates that the Commission has already taken significant steps to support the packaging industry, and the focus must now shift to ensuring these rules are implemented in a manner that fully respects the legislative intent and timeline, rather than seeking further legislative amendments. The PPWR provides the framework. What is lacking is not legal clarity, but enforcement. The industry is using “lack of guidance/clarity” as a stall tactic while they lobby for exemptions.
3. Single Market harmonisation: the interpretation and clarification provided in the COM guidance and FAQ document on the harmonisation of the Single Market already favours industry players. This is something that we’ve also highlighted in our reaction with the Rethink Plastic alliance: ‘we caution against the risk that Single Market harmonisation is misused to excessively restrict the ability of national and local authorities to go beyond EU minimum requirements on waste reduction and reuse. While harmonisation can support the PPWR’s objectives, it is only helpful if it is underpinned by sufficiently high ambition so that the Regulation’s core objectives – advancing the circular economy and delivering meaningful waste prevention – are achieved. These priorities should remain central to both interpretation and implementation. Strengthening the Single Market must not come at the expense of environmental protection, public health or the public interest; rather, it should enable a race to the top by allowing more ambitious national and local measures, particularly where they are needed to meet waste prevention targets and support reuse’.
4. The urgency of PPWR environmental goals should not be denied. We must not lose sight of the PPWR’s ultimate purpose: to drastically reduce packaging waste, eliminate non-recyclable packaging, and drive the transition to a safe and circular economy. The packaging sector is currently responsible for a significant portion of the EU’s waste crisis. Delaying the implementation of these critical measures by even a few months translates to millions of tons of unnecessary waste continuing to pollute our environment. This should be non-negotiable as the clock is ticking on climate targets and resource efficiency goals. We cannot afford to pause progress on a regulation designed to fix the very problems the industry helped create.
5. Industry accountability: it is ironic that the same industry actors who have united so effectively to leverage the current simplification/deregulation wave to demand the reopening of the PPWR and the postponement of the application date are not demonstrating the same unity and urgency to solve the packaging waste crisis they helped create. If the industry has the collective strength to successfully lobby for delays and exemptions from a legally approved and democratically debated piece of legislation, it possesses that same capacity to join forces to innovate, redesign, and solve the waste crisis.

Rather than seeking to delay the inevitable, the industry should channel this energy into accelerating the transition to circular packaging. The tools, technologies, and markets exist; what is needed is the political will and the corporate commitment to act.”

ENDS

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For any media enquiries, please reach out to:

Ana Oliveira, Head of Communications at Zero Waste Europe – [email protected] or [email protected] 

Larissa Copello, Reuse and Packaging Policy Officer at Zero Waste Europe – [email protected] 

About Zero Waste Europe

Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) is the European network of communities, local leaders, experts, and change agents working towards a better use of resources and the elimination of waste in our society. We advocate for sustainable systems; for the redesign of our relationship with resources; and for a global shift towards environmental justice, accelerating a just transition towards zero waste for the benefit of people and the planet. www.zerowasteeurope.eu

About Rethink Plastic

Rethink Plastic is an alliance of leading European NGOs, representing thousands of active groups, supporters and citizens in every EU Member State. We are part of the global Break Free From Plastic movement, consisting of over 13,000 organisations and individuals worldwide demanding an end to plastic pollution. www.rethinkplasticalliance.eu