The PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2025/40) is the new EU Packaging Regulation. It applies uniformly across the EU, has been in force since February 2025 and will become mandatory from 12 August 2026. The aim is to reduce packaging waste and strengthen the circular economy.

Specific implications for the cosmetics industry:

• Recyclability: All cosmetic packaging must be recyclable in future (deadline: 2030).
• Recycled content requirement: Plastic packaging must contain a minimum proportion of recycled material (on a sliding scale; cosmetics are considered ‘contact-sensitive’).
• Minimising packaging: Excessive packaging will no longer be permitted and must be justified.
• New labelling: Standardised EU recycling information on packaging.
• Greater responsibility: obligations regarding documentation, reporting and declarations of conformity for packaging.

In short: it is not just the product, but also the packaging that is heavily regulated – design, costs and processes in the cosmetics industry are changing noticeably.

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