In August 2026, Packaging laws like the PPWR now govern markets in more than 60 countries across the world, with fees that can reach millions of euros and penalties that can restrict market access. John Blake, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, explores the key risk areas and explains how companies can address them.
The EU’s PPWR generally applies from 12th August 2026, but still, many producers are approaching the deadline with fragmented packaging records, along with a lack of clear oversight for compliance. In addition, packaging EPR is growing globally to expose the gaps in packaging data.
Based on the rise in global packaging regulations, broad-based data and governance gaps can pose serious risks. It is also stated that many companies still need to establish a central oversight of their packaging obligations. The oversight begins with reliable packaging specification data and should also provide functional stakeholders with enough information to prepare for rising compliance costs. Such efforts need to coalesce around a single, authoritative owner to highlight and mitigate the risks in conjunction with senior management.
Packaging EPR legislation transfers the cost of waste collection and management to obligated producers, including brand owners, retailers, and importers. Companies are required to register with producer responsibility organizations and also report precise information about the packaging they place on the market. A few new laws also require recycled content or restrict materials.
The obligations differ by jurisdiction. The EU’s PPWR operates alongside country-level packaging EPR schemes and a widening collection of state laws in the U.S. As of July 2026, seven U.S. states had passed packaging EPR legislation, with several others reviewing their own legislation. The enacted laws covered about 20% of the U.S. population, leaving producers responsible for fees on a corresponding share of domestic sales.
A global company capable of responding to such requests market-by-market can also quickly lose track of which legal entity is responsible, or which products are covered. The reporting dates will change ahead, and new jurisdictions will add their own rules. A series of local projects may also complete individual filings, but it will not give senior leaders a consistent view of the company’s total obligations.
The financial impact is already appearing in company accounts. One major UK retailer reported a £29 million charge for a new packaging EPR levy in its 2025 interim results, recognizing the expected full-year cost during the period. Other organizations have already assumed that PPWR compliance could cost as much as one million Euros or more in each EU country where products are sold. Separate national obligations can therefore become a substantial annual expense for multinational producers.
Enough information can be acquired from published fee schedules to begin estimating the initial costs U.K. government schedules for 2025 to 2026 set base fees at “£192 per tonne for glass and £461 per tonne for fibre-based composites.” In the United States, the Circular Action Alliance has also published 2026 schedules for Oregon and Colorado, with California’s expected later this year. Finance teams can apply these rates to current packaging volumes to reveal the effect on budgets.
Late or inaccurate reporting adds another source of expense. California can impose penalties of up to $50,000 per day for noncompliance, including failures to register or report packaging. Oregon’s penalties can reach $25,000 per day. Continuing violations could produce fines approaching $1 million in a single month. PPWR and California’s SB 54 also create the possibility that noncompliant packaging will be restricted from the market.
Such figures place packaging compliance beyond the remit of a local sustainability team. Hence, the senior management needs a consolidated estimate of expected fees and a clear account of the circumstances that could place sales at risk.
Regulators always require a few pieces of fixed information, such as material type, packaging format, and quantities reported by weight. Such records are essential to calculate fees and also establish baselines for packaging-reduction targets. The information previously maintained for purchasing or product development must now support formal submissions with financial consequences.
Packaging laws highly influence whether a product can remain on sale. A company that cannot verify what its packaging contains will surely struggle to calculate what it owes or to support regulatory filings. With product restrictions taking effect, the same data gap can also determine whether the packaging can remain in the market or not.
24 August 2026
24 August 2026
24 August 2026
24 August 2026