PPWR requires a harmonised label on every packaging item you put on sale from 12 August 2028. From 1 January 2030, only recyclability grades A to C remain, with a maximum of 50 per cent void and no more double walls or false bottoms. For your window, that means a small pictogram on the box and a large change in its shape.
The text is an EU regulation: (EU) 2025/40, applicable since 12 August 2026. For you as a retailer, little changes at the till in 2028. For the box you put in the window, everything changes.
The four dates your calendar needs
- 12 August 2026: the declaration of conformity and the technical file per packaging become mandatory. We deliver them as a packaging passport with every reference.
- 30 June 2027: the EU deforestation regulation, EUDR, applies to paper, board and wood imported from outside the EU. Your wooden wine crate and your cheese board are covered.
- 12 August 2028: the harmonised label with the material pictogram becomes mandatory, or 24 months after the implementing act.
- 1 January 2030: grades A to C only, a maximum of 50 per cent void, the end of double walls and false bottoms.
What your window will see change
The label is small, but it sits on the front of the box. You cannot hide it under a ribbon. Allow a strip of about 2 cm next to your own print. The 50 per cent void rule ends the big-box reflex: a gift that looks larger than it is no longer passes. A 30 cm box for a single bottle has to become slimmer, or fuller. Double walls and false bottoms disappear. Premium packaging that owed its volume to a double wall must find its presence in the material and the print. The sorting instruction replaces the vague green claim. On ours it reads: with paper and cardboard. On polyester satin it reads: residual waste, not with textiles.
What we saw in our own range
We put our 26 references next to the grades. Fifteen are grade A today: the sleeves, the chocolate boxes, the Christmas boxes in solid board, the tissue paper. Eight sit at B: printed corrugated, lacquered bamboo, untreated paulownia, the caterer box with a window. Three drop to C: our three polyester satin ribbons. Those three go back to the drawing board. A ribbon is not primary packaging, but it lives in the box and it counts. We are testing a paper ribbon and a cotton version. For the Christmas 2027 collection the polyester ribbons stay in stock, with a correct sorting instruction on the reference page.
Do this before you order the Christmas collection
- Ask for the declaration of conformity and the technical file for every reference. No document, no proof.
- Ask for the grade, not just the material. A, B or C tells you what you can still sell in 2030.
- Read the sorting instruction as if your customer were reading it out loud. If it sounds vague, it is wrong.
- Check the origin of wood and paper before 30 June 2027. Your supplier must be able to show its due diligence.
We print the grade next to the price on the reference page, not in a brochure. You see before you order whether your box will still be in your window in 2030.