TURKISH
01/09/26
From 12 August 2026, most provisions of the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) begin to apply, and it has already changed the questions brands ask about their packaging.
For years, a flexible pack was judged on how well it protected the product, how it ran on the line, and how it looked on shelf. Those things are still important, but now they sit next to questions about recyclability, recycled content, material composition, and what happens to a pack once the consumer is done with it. PPWR regulation phases in through to 2040, with targets that tighten along the way. The destination may be clear, but specifics regarding the route are not.
Several delegated and implementing acts are still to come. The rules for calculating recycled content are expected in December 2026, while the harmonised labelling acts have slipped to the end of the year. The result is that brands are being asked to design and commit now, against targets and guidance that are still being written. That is the real challenge PPWR presents, and it is why the conversations we are having with customers are so important.
Every brand faces a different version of the same regulation
Recyclability is not one single problem with one single fix. It changes with the pack, the product, and the market the product sells into.
A coffee pouch designed for recycling, a lidding film for modified-atmosphere sliced meat, a spouted pouch for liquid detergent, and an outer bag for diapers each enter a different recycling stream, carry a different barrier requirement, and run on different filling equipment. A structure that suits one can be wrong for the next. A pack can even be technically recyclable and still fail in practice if it isn't collected, sorted, and processed where the consumer throws it away.
There are also performance considerations. Improve recyclability, and barrier performance may come under pressure. Lightweight a pack, and it still needs to survive the supply chain intact. Raise recycled content and strict rules on food-contact packaging pull the other way. There is no single off-the-shelf pack, stamped ‘PPWR-ready’, that resolves all of this at once. What is compliant and commercial for one product line is often the wrong answer for another.
This is also why a decision made too quickly can cost more later. A pack locked in today, against a rule not finalised until 2028, may need to be redesigned before it has earned its investment back.
Why the partner matters
This is where the choice of packaging partner makes all the difference.
Korozo starts with the product, not the spec sheet. Before recommending a material, we work to understand how a pack is filled, where it is sold, which recycling stream it will reach, and what the brand needs from it commercially. Because we extrude our own film and print in-house, we can tune a structure to the application rather than reach for the nearest standard option.
That approach is backed by solutions already on supermarket shelves. Our proprietary KoroRCY MDO-PE laminating film gives brands a mono-material structure that holds the barrier performance protein, dairy, and household products rely on, with selected KoroRCY structures assessed or certified for recyclability under recognised schemes, including Cyclos-HTP, Interseroh and APR, as applicable. In 2024, 64% of our total production consisted of packaging structures designed for recycling.
Selected KoroRCY solutions for non-contact-sensitive applications can incorporate more than 30% post-consumer recycled content, moving toward PPWR's target for non-contact-sensitive plastic packaging. From skin films for vacuum packs to lidding films for MAP trays and stand-up pouches, the principle stays the same: the structure is matched to the job it has to do.
None of this is a one-time fix. PPWR's targets ratchet upward and new measures keep arriving, so a partner who knows your packaging in real detail can adjust with you as each phase arrives. That is what Delivering Sustainability, Pack by Pack means in practice. The right pack for each application, reviewed as the rules evolve.
If PPWR has changed the questions you are asking about your flexible packaging, talk to us. We will use more than 50 years of experience to align your products, markets, and commercial goals to help you make packaging decisions you can stand behind as the regulation takes shape.