As Europe experiences the growth of packaging waste, the European Commission is enforcing new regulations to help curb what they consider to be a significant barrier to a sustainable, circular economy.
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is a new directive first introduced in 2025 that sets requirements on all packaging on the EU market. The first hard compliance deadline is on August 12, 2026 and will apply uniformly across the 27 member states.
In response, supply chain traceability software company TrusTrace has released a whitepaper outlining what fashion brands need to know.
The guide first warns that simply joining a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO)—groups that help companies follow regulations—will not be enough. Brands still need to produce their supplier data layer.
TrusTrace presents three questions for brands to assess their readiness: Do you have component-level material data for every packaging SKU on EU markets? What is the name of the packaging converter your Tier 1 factories use? Have each of your suppliers sent you a signed Declaration of Conformity?
In terms of what is due on August 12, the paper outlines three obligations: a signed Declaration of Conformity for each unique packaging type; no PFAS (“forever chemicals) in food-contact packaging and heavy metals capped at 100 mg/kg across packaging types; and registration with a national PRO in each EU member state where packaging is placed on the market.
The paper also provides a roadmap of the obligations that will follow the August 12 deadline. Most notably, the timeline ends with the need for all packaging on the EU market to be recyclable by 2030.
