Meet minimum recycled content in every plastic part of packaging, averaged per manufacturing plant per year: 30% for contact-sensitive PET, 10% for other contact-sensitive plastics, 30% for single-use plastic beverage bottles, 35% for all other plastic packaging.
Manufacturers and importers of plastic packaging must comply, and this is law in force.
Why it matters
This is law in force, not a proposal.
- It is Art. 7(1), in the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. as of 2026-08-18
- The act gives its timing as: From 1 January 2030 or 3 years after the Art. 7(8) implementing act, whichever is later (Art. 7(1)). as of 2026-08-18
- It names 2 industries by name: Plastics converting and Food and drink. as of 2026-08-18
- Compliance is checked by technical documentation (Annex VII), third-party audit possible under Art. 7(8), annual, averaged per manufacturing plant. as of 2026-08-18
What changes
All plastic packaging converters and their importers. Genuinely new: 94/62/EC set recycling targets for the waste stream but never required recycled content in the product. The feedstock must also be post-consumer, collected in the Union or to equivalent standards, and recycled in an installation meeting Directive 2010/75/EU-equivalent emission rules.
The rule
a plastic part of packaging placed on the market
Meet minimum recycled content in every plastic part of packaging, averaged per manufacturing plant per year: 30% for contact-sensitive PET, 10% for other contact-sensitive plastics, 30% for single-use plastic beverage bottles, 35% for all other plastic packaging.
Who is affected
Burden drivers
No size threshold.
Source text
By 1 January 2030 or 3 years from the date of entry into force of the implementing act referred to in paragraph 8 of this Article, whichever is the latest, any plastic part of packaging placed on the market shall contain the following minimum percentage of recycled content recovered from post-consumer plastic waste, per packaging type and format as referred to in Table 1 of Annex II, calculated as an average per manufacturing plant and year: (a) 30 % for contact-sensitive packaging made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as the major component, except single-use plastic beverage bottles; (b) 10 % for contact-sensitive packaging made from plastic materials other than PET, except single-use plastic beverage bottles; (c) 30 % for single-use plastic beverage bottles; (d) 35 % for plastic packaging other than those referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of this paragraph.
View source →Settled later in secondary legislation. Art. 7(13) lets the Commission lower the percentages by delegated act where recycled plastic is unavailable or excessively priced, but only in exceptional cases with severe adverse effects for health, food security or the environment.