Emily Hill shares why the EU’s new packaging regulation is an opportunity for innovative change
For businesses serving the European market, the packaging landscape will significantly change by 2030. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which came into force in February 2025, will apply to all businesses producing or using packaging in the EU market from August 2026.
This signals a fundamental shift in regulation accelerating the adoption of circularity and impacting how recycling and waste is managed. At present, a large majority of packaging in Europe is at risk of failing to comply.
2030 will see the implementation of stringent environmentally focused targets, including a ban on single-use plastic for unprocessed fresh fruit and vegetables, and a requirement for take-away businesses to let customers bring their own containers at no extra cost. After this, requirements will continue to tighten with standards for recyclability and recycled content becoming stricter by 2040, when all non-recyclable or non-reusable packaging types will be banned. Brands will need to act fast to comply, but what should they prioritize?
Finding opportunity in the challenge
If businesses cannot comply with PPWR by 2040, they will either face losing a significant share of sales or a total ban in Europe. Organizations must identify where current packaging doesn’t comply and work towards making them compliant with the regulations. This will mean changing packaging to meet the new requirements, ensuring they are designed for reusability, creating refill systems, and switching to recyclable materials and adopting wash-off labels, for example, to ensure high quality recyclables.
As well as presenting a challenge for businesses, PPWR is an opportunity to reimagine designs and existing approaches. Companies can develop efficient ways of working, enabling brands to move into new markets, and contribute to progress on wider environmental goals. Those that act decisively can establish access to valuable feedstock and supply chains, build critical partnerships, and enhance their reputations as sustainability leaders.
Innovate sustainably to find new space
To gain a competitive advantage, businesses and research and development (R&D) professionals must build the right skills in their organization that consider the entire value chain, gather the data required to measure their progress, and invest in research to test designs, materials, and approaches. As organizations review and reshape their activities, they’ll need to make sure supply, R&D, sustainability, and marketing teams are all involved.
Developing more sustainable ways of working can also be a chance to grow. For instance, bigger brands typically gain only ten percent of growth from customers who already buy in their category. To connect with new people, organizations must think radically about innovation to stretch their brand into new territory and reach new audiences.
Through this, circularity offers a compelling pathway to business growth. Almost three quarters (73 percent) of people have tried or are open to trying brands that have a more positive environmental or social impact. Conversely, more than half (54 percent) have either stopped buying or have bought fewer products and services because of a negative impact in these areas.
The changes required by PPWR are an opportunity to respond to these evolving attitudes. Whether it’s a bold new packaging design or an imaginative refill scheme, acting ahead of sustainability regulation can help strengthen a brand and open exciting new space to grow into.
Bringing consumers on the journey
Consumers have many different – and sometimes conflicting – motivations. While many support circularity in principle, if changes to packaging make a product more expensive or less convenient, they may still avoid it. So, marketers have a crucial role to play in communicating with customers about new approaches and inspiring them about the journey towards circularity.
Marketers can draw on their skills and insights to support this transition, developing viable propositions, and making the change more appealing. They can also help embed new circular business models and incorporate circularity into their own performance metrics.
Brands must understand diverse consumer attitudes on sustainability. For instance, Kantar’s Bridging the Gap study on people’s attitude towards sustainability found that those in the ‘changemakers’ and ‘committed’ categories are strongly motivated and can be recruited as early adopters to help normalize sustainable behavior.
In contrast, ‘strivers’ need change to be convenient and ‘pragmatists’ want to see personal benefits before acting. By exploring nuances within and between markets, businesses can develop realistic, tailored approaches that make the most of opportunities and find innovative ways to overcome friction.
The far-reaching changes required by PPWR are undeniable. However, businesses that see this regulation as purely a compliance burden will miss out on the opportunity to embrace change as a strategic driver for innovation, and a way to connect with customers. Through embracing circularity in their models and effectively communicating their journey to customers, businesses can meet ESG and sustainability targets and position themselves for stronger growth in the future.
Emily Hill is a Director in the Global Sustainable Transformation Practice at Kantar, and the organization’s Sustainable Innovation lead. With a background in brand strategy, insight, and innovation, Emily is deeply committed to helping brands drive sustainable behaviour, business growth, and positive social and environmental change.