Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste entered into force on 11 February 2025 and applies from 12 August 2026, replacing the old packaging directive with rules that apply directly in every member state.
All packaging must be recyclable by 2030. From 1 January 2030 single-use plastic packaging is banned for fresh fruit and vegetables under 1.5 kg, for food and drink consumed on site in cafés and restaurants, for hotel toiletry miniatures and for grouping packaging such as shrink-wrap around multipacks. Reuse targets rise from 40% (2030) to 70% (2040) for transport packaging and from 10% to 40% for beverage packaging. Plastic packaging must contain minimum recycled content from 2030.
The regulation matters because it is the first law to set binding reuse targets and to restrict specific packaging formats across a major economy.
Many detailed rules depend on Commission implementing acts still being finalised, and industry has lobbied for exemptions, so the final scope may change.