How are sustainability leaders in the packaging industry working to meet the EU waste targets and how will the coming legislation affect the global packaging industry? In this Q&A Markus Dahl, Product Manager at Ecolean, shares his perspective on the matter.
What is Ecolean’s general approach to ensure it will meet the coming EU legislation on packaging waste?
While the new EU legislation presents challenges for the entire packaging value chain, it also creates opportunities for the industry to become more circular and generate less waste. At Ecolean, we maintain a flexible, agile and proactive approach to new legislation to ensure we can meet any requirements in the best possible way.
Tell us more about the challenges for the industry and specifically for Ecolean.
The common challenge for the entire industry is that while the regulations came into force in early 2025 and we know that all packages must fulfil a recyclability performance grade, the design guideline and methodology on how to calculate the actual grades will not be published until 2028. Additionally, packaging companies are faced with the challenges of incorporating recycled plastics that are approved from food contact applications as there is currently a lack of such materials available in the market.
Our main challenge at Ecolean is that we must transition our packaging material from a dolomite-polymer mix to a mono-material polymer material. This will involve a revolutionary change that not only affects our packaging but also our packaging material manufacturing processes as they must be adapted to run with new mono-material.
The new legislation will create exciting opportunities to make the entire industry more sustainable. For example, it will drive innovation in incorporating post-consumer materials into packaging, eco-design standards, investment in recycling infrastructure, and harmonised waste collection and sorting.
How about the opportunities for the industry and for Ecolean?
The new legislation will create exciting opportunities to make the entire industry more sustainable. For example, it will drive innovation in incorporating post-consumer materials into packaging, eco-design standards, investment in recycling infrastructure, and harmonised waste collection and sorting.
For Ecolean, the new legislation will help us to achieve our ambitious recyclability and circularity objectives. Besides ensuring all our packages in Europe comply with ‘Designed for recycling guidelines’ by 2030, we have the objective to incorporate 10 percent renewable or recycled polymers in our packages by 2030 and will work to establish infrastructure for our packaging solutions. These are global targets for our entire business that have been shaped by the latest European legislation.
What’s the importance of mono-materials in packaging recycling?
Mono-materials are essential to facilitate the recyclability of packaging. The ‘cleaner’ the packaging material is with less mixed material, the easier it is to sort and recycle resulting in a high-quality material to create new packaging from. Importantly, this means that mono-materials will have higher value among recycling partners as they are more cost effective to recycle. At Ecolean, we are working proactively to develop truly circular packaging that will fully comply with the new EU packaging regulations.
How important are partnerships to Ecolean?
Collaboration with our value chain partners, industry organisations – and even our competitors – are essential to keep up to speed with forthcoming legislation and provide opportunities for us to influence its development. We simply can’t meet the new legislation alone and need to work closely together with our customers, suppliers and other value chain partners.
In terms of industry organisations, we are members of the Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging (CEFLEX) initiative and the European organisation for packaging and the environment (Europen). We also play an active role in the Swedish Institute for Standards (SIS) by contributing towards the development of the draft standards together with other key Sweden-based actors.
How will the new EU legislation affect the global packaging industry?
Of course there are many uncertainties, but as companies adapt their packaging materials to meet the new EU legislation, it will have impacts beyond the borders of Europe. For example, we see that brands are developing their own internal guidelines that may be implemented globally. In addition, other countries and regions are closely watching the legislative developments in the EU and may either adopt similar legislation or use the EU legislation as a benchmark.
What do these developments mean for Ecolean in 2025 and beyond?
We are already developing and piloting new packaging concepts together with our key customers. These early non-commercial trials are so important for us – not only to understand how we can align with the new legislation but also how we can fully meet the needs and expectations of our customers. One thing is certain as we adapt to the changing legislative environment – we will continue to be a lightweight packaging company that contributes to circularity by using less material in our packaging.
Markus Dahl, Product Manager at Ecolean.
European Green Deal - PPWR
As part of its European Green Deal, the EU has approved new packaging regulations aimed at reducing waste and promoting reuse by setting binding targets, restricting single-use plastics, minimising the weight of packaging and requiring recyclable packaging.
The Packaging and Packaging Waste regulation (PPWR), which was introduced in early 2025, outlines that all packaging on the European market must be designed for recycling by 2030. Other key measures include targets for a minimum percentage of recycled content, re-use targets for 2030 and 2040, and stricter labelling and material composition requirements to enhance sustainability and consumer awareness.