China, The U.S., And Europe Are Tightening Comprehensively, Leading To A Systemic Reshaping Of The Industrial Chain

2026 will be the "first year of regulation" for the global packaging industry. Major economies such as the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and China are simultaneously strengthening their packaging regulatory systems, putting pressure on them from the design source to the end of the waste.

Policy focuses on recyclability, reusability, chemical safety, labeling harmonization and extended producer responsibility (EPR). This global institutional reform means that packaging is no longer just a "commodity shell", but has entered a new stage of "environmental responsibility and circular economy".

EU: PPWR regulations reconstruct the packaging industry system

The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) came into force in February 2025 and will be fully implemented on August 12, 2026. This regulation replaces the previous version of the 1994 Directive (94/62/EC) and for the first time directly binds all member states in the form of a harmonized regulation, marking the beginning of mandatory harmonization of EU packaging management.

The core requirements of PPWR include:

Mandatory recyclability: By 2030, all packaging placed on the market must have "actual recyclability"; By 2040, total packaging waste needs to be reduced by 15%.

Reuse target: Beverage and takeaway packaging need to achieve a reuse rate of at least 10% from 2026 and 20% by 2030.

Hazardous substance limits: The content of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in food contact packaging must be below the limit threshold. plasticizers and heavy metal additives will be phased out.

Unified labeling system: Packaging must have EU standardized labels and color identification systems to ensure correct classification for consumers.

The European Commission predicts that PPWR will reduce packaging waste by about 15 million tons and save 23 billion euros in waste disposal costs per year after its implementation. For manufacturers exporting to the EU market, such as China, India, and ASEAN, this means a comprehensive compliance adjustment from material structure to supply chain.

UK: The pEPR system has been fully implemented, and enterprise costs have shifted to full responsibility

The UK will implement the revised Producer Responsibility Obligations Regulations (2024) for packaging and packaging waste from 2025, and will officially implement the Extended Producer Responsibility Regime (pEPR) for packaging in 2026.

The system requires:

Enterprises with an annual packaging volume of more than 50 tons and sales of more than 2 million pounds must register and report packaging data;

From 2026, differentiated fees will be paid according to packaging material, quantity and recyclability;

Producers bear the full cost of collection, sorting, recycling and disposal of household packaging waste.

Currently, around 3,000 companies in the UK are included in the first pEPR list. DEFRA estimates that pEPR will generate £1.7 billion in waste treatment funding for local governments each year and will boost the national packaging recycling rate from the current 63% to more than 80%. The cost of recyclable packaging (such as single PET, paper-based structure) is much lower than that of multi-layer composite materials, forcing companies to optimize packaging design and supply chain systems in advance.

China: Accelerate the construction of green packaging and EPR systems

China is in the stage of comprehensive upgrading of the packaging regulatory system. Although there is no unified "Packaging Waste Law", it constitutes a multi-level management framework with the "Circular Economy Promotion Law", "Solid Waste Pollution Prevention and Control Law", "Regulations on Restricting Excessive Packaging of Commodities", and "Upgraded Version of the "Plastic Restriction Order" as the core.

In recent years, the "Green Packaging Evaluation Guidelines" and "Express Packaging Recycling Pilot Implementation Plan" jointly promoted by the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Post Office, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and other departments have clarified:

By the end of 2025, key e-commerce and express delivery companies need to achieve a recyclable packaging ratio of more than 30%;

By 2026, the utilization rate of circular packaging in major express delivery outlets across the country will exceed 50%;

The packaging void ratio, layer and cost ratio will be included in the scope of mandatory supervision.

In addition, China has launched a pilot EPR system since 2016, covering electrical and electronic products, batteries, automobiles and some packaging. According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, it will be expanded to food, beverages, cosmetics and e-commerce packaging by 2025. The responsibility mechanism of "who produces, who recycles" is gradually being implemented.

By the end of 2024, the output value of China's packaging industry has exceeded 2.4 trillion yuan, with paper-plastic packaging accounting for more than 70%. In the context of the convergence of green packaging and international regulations, the industrial chain is transitioning from "low-cost expansion" to "high-standard compliance and recycling".

United States: State regulations dominate, EPR enters the exploratory period

Unlike the EU's centralized regulation, the United States lacks a uniform federal-level packaging law, with regulation primarily dominated by the states. By the end of 2025, 12 states have banned single-use foam, and more than 20 states have restricted or banned PFAS-containing food contact packaging.

At present, four states in the United States (California, Maine, Oregon, and Colorado) have officially passed EPR bills, requiring packaging producers to bear the cost of waste disposal, and more than 10 states are in the legislative progress stage. The standards of each state vary significantly, and the implementation time is different, forming a pattern of "multi-track parallel and fragmented supervision".

In the context of the lack of unified regulations, enterprise active compliance has become the main driving force. American retailers Walmart, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, etc. have publicly pledged that their private label packaging will be 100% recyclable or compostable by 2025. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also proposes in the Sustainable Packaging Action Framework that by 2030, more than 50% of the country's packaging materials should be reused or recycled.

Policy commonality and technical path: from end governance to source design

Looking at global policy trends, the European Union, the United Kingdom, China, and the United States all present three common directions despite their different institutional forms:

EPR legalization and cost internalization: producers need to bear the responsibility for the whole life cycle of waste management, and the cost is linked to material recyclability;

Digitalization and label transparency: The EU's Digital Product Passport (DPP) and China's Green Packaging Traceability System are building a packaging information sharing network.

Material and process innovation: paper-based oil-proof packaging, bio-based plastics, single polyolefin composite films, and digital watermark sorting systems (such as the EU "HolyGrail 2.0") have become the focus of research and development.

International brands and Chinese export companies are accelerating their adjustments. For example, Amcor has committed to using recycled materials in 30% of its packaging by 2027; UFlex, Billerud and other companies have invested heavily in paper-plastic alternative materials and single recyclable film structures. These innovations are becoming a double threshold for compliance and competition.

Conclusion: From the "Age of Production" to the "Age of Responsibility"

This wave of global packaging regulation, which will take full effect from 2026, marks that the packaging industry has bid farewell to the old paradigm of "low-cost, disposable" and entered a new stage with circular economy, traceability compliance, and fully responsible production as the core.

In the future, packaging is not only an accessory to goods, but also a reflection of resource utilization, carbon emission reduction and corporate social responsibility. From the EU's PPWR, to China's green packaging strategy, from the UK's pEPR, to local legislation in the United States, the global packaging industry chain is being reshaped into a technology-driven, regulatory, and responsible-sharing ecosystem.

2026 will become the real starting point for the global packaging industry to move from the "era of mass production" to the "era of responsibility".