The EU's New Packaging Rules (PPWR): What Online Sellers Should Know

Here's a plain-English rundown of what it actually says, and one small way that shipping fewer, fuller boxes can help with the waste problem it's trying to solve.

What is the PPWR?

The PPWR (Regulation (EU) 2025/40) is an EU law that replaces the older Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive. The key difference is that it's a regulation, not a directive, meaning it applies the same way in every EU country automatically, rather than each country writing its own version of the rules.

It entered into force in February 2025, and its main provisions started applying from 12 August 2026. Some specific requirements, like recyclability grades, empty-space limits, and recycled-content minimums, are phased in gradually between 2026 and 2040, so the deadlines aren't all the same.

The regulation covers any packaging placed on the EU market, regardless of material (plastic, cardboard, glass, etc.) or where it comes from. That includes retail packaging, e-commerce shipping boxes, and transport packaging.

The main requirements, in short

There's a lot in the PPWR, but the headline pieces are:

• Recyclability: from 2030, packaging placed on the EU market generally needs to meet defined recyclability performance grades.
• Minimum recycled content: certain plastic packaging will need to contain a set percentage of recycled material, phased in over time.
• Packaging minimisation: by 1 January 2030, packaging has to be no bigger or heavier than necessary to do its job (protect the product, keep it safe, allow labelling, etc.). Packaging designed purely to make a product look bigger, like double walls or false bottoms, will be restricted.
• Empty-space limits: for grouped, transport, and e-commerce packaging specifically, the ratio of empty space (including void fill like air pillows, paper, or bubble wrap) can't exceed 50%, once this requirement takes effect from 2030 onward.
• Restricted substances: from August 2026, food-contact packaging can't contain PFAS ("forever chemicals") above set limits.
• Labelling: a harmonised EU labelling system is being developed to help consumers sort packaging correctly for recycling.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): businesses that place packaging on the market are responsible for its whole lifecycle, including funding collection and recycling.

Who exactly is responsible for which obligation depends on your role in the supply chain (manufacturer, importer, distributor, online marketplace, etc.), and the details are still being refined through implementing rules the European Commission is expected to publish over the next few years.

Why this matters for online stores

For anyone shipping products directly to customers, a few of these points land closer to home than others, particularly the empty-space and minimisation rules. A lot of standard e-commerce shipping today involves oversized boxes with a lot of void fill, which is exactly the kind of packaging the PPWR is targeting.

Meeting these requirements isn't just about the box itself, though. It touches material choices, supplier documentation, labelling, and registration, which is a legal and operational process, not something any single app or plugin can fully take care of. If PPWR compliance applies to your business, it's worth talking to a packaging supplier or advisor who can walk through your specific obligations.

Where fewer shipments fit into the picture

Separately from compliance, there's a simpler lever a lot of stores haven't fully used yet: shipping less packaging in the first place, by shipping less often.

If a customer orders three items over a couple of weeks and each one goes out the moment it's ready, that's three boxes, three sets of void fill, and three labels, even though it could have been one shipment. This is a common pattern for stores that sell pre-order or limited-availability items alongside in-stock ones.

This is the specific problem Addora's Buy Now, Ship Later feature addresses. It lets shoppers combine multiple items, including pre-orders and in-stock products, into a single shipment, timed to when they actually want it sent, rather than defaulting to a separate box per order. Fewer shipments means fewer boxes, less void fill, and less packaging material used overall for the same set of purchased items.

To be clear about what this is and isn't: consolidating shipments is a way to reduce the amount of packaging your store uses, which lines up with the general direction the PPWR (and packaging regulation more broadly) is pushing the industry. It is not, on its own, a PPWR compliance tool. It doesn't address recyclability grades, material composition, substance restrictions, labelling, or EPR registration, all of which are separate requirements that apply to the packaging itself. Using fewer boxes is a good practice regardless of what any specific regulation requires; it just happens to also point in the same direction as where packaging rules across markets are heading.

The takeaway

The PPWR is a wide-reaching regulation with requirements that will roll out gradually through 2030 and beyond, covering everything from what packaging is made of to how much empty space it can contain. If it applies to your business, compliance will involve your packaging suppliers, your labelling, and your documentation, which is a separate conversation from how your store handles shipping and fulfilment.

That said, cutting down on unnecessary shipments and packaging is generally worth doing, both for cost and for waste reduction, and it's something tools like Addora's Buy Now, Ship Later can help with directly, as one piece of a much bigger picture.

This post is intended as a general, informational overview and isn't legal advice. If you need to confirm your specific PPWR obligations, we'd recommend speaking with a packaging compliance advisor familiar with your market and supply chain.