PPWR Lobbying intensifies as Member States seek more guidance

In a letter signed by around 100 company leaders, packaging and food and beverage companies called for targeted revisions and delays, in particular regarding the PFAS restrictions on food-contact packaging, recyclability requirements and harmonised labelling rules.

In response, more than 120 companies and associations from the recycling and circular economy sectors urged EU leaders in a joint letter to ensure timely and effective implementation, warning that any delay would undermine investor confidence.

With the EU institutions remaining committed to the August 2026 application date, much of the lobby efforts shifted towards the individual Member States. Czechia led the push for a delay, initially lobbying to postpone the application date.

Together with six other Member States, it then placed the PPWR on the agenda of the Environment Council on 25 June 2026 to provide a consolidated timeline for all delegated and implementing acts and to update the March guidance and FAQs.

Further guidance from the Commission is expected, while a formal delay to the Regulation itself remains unlikely.

Separately, the Commission confirmed a delay to one piece of secondary legislation, the implementing act on the harmonised labelling of waste receptacles. This does not affect the application date of the PPWR itself. A draft, initially planned for August, is now expected after the summer, followed by discussions in the Waste Expert Group and a public consultation.

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