How to prove your reel packaging is reusable and recyclable.

The PPWR timeline that matters

The PPWR replaces Directive 94/62/EC and moves packaging obligations from a directive (transposed country by country) to a single regulation that applies directly across the EU.

This site is a practical resource, not legal advice. For ROLL's formal position, see the PPWR conformity statement and reusable & bio-based packaging statement on roll-packaging.com.

Reusability: recover the core, prove the rotation

Under PPWR logic, a packaging component that is used again for the same purpose counts toward reuse. The reel core is exactly such a component: a cardboard or plastic tube that, if recovered intact, goes straight back into production instead of being scrapped and re-bought.

The obstacle has always been separation. Cut the core with the material and you destroy it. Recover it whole — as RECYCLO does — and you have a documented, repeatable rotation of a packaging component. That is the evidence a reuse case is built on (aligned with EN 13429 on reusable packaging).

Recyclability: keep the material in a single, clean stream

Recyclability under PPWR is not a label — it is a design property that must hold in practice. The single biggest threat to it at end of reel is contamination: when material is torn off mixed with core fragments, or when different resins are combined, recyclers reject it.

Recovering the material lengthways, without cutting the core, keeps it as a clean, single-resin fraction — the form that can actually enter its own recycling stream, and that is easier to sell than to dispose of. This is the difference between packaging that is recyclable on paper and recyclable at scale.

Building your PPWR file, per material

What turns a claim into evidence is documented, per-material data: which resin, what quantity recovered, cores returned to use, and the destination stream. RECYCLO produces those figures on every reel — the raw material of a defensible reusability and recyclability case.

• Reuse record — cores recovered intact and returned to production.
• Recyclate record — clean single-resin material by weight and family.
• Process record — a repeatable, CE-compliant, documented recovery step.

Frequently asked questions

When does the PPWR apply?

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 entered into force on 11 February 2025 and applies in general from 12 August 2026. Design-for-recycling requirements apply from 1 January 2030, and recyclability "at scale" from 1 January 2035.

What makes packaging "reusable" under PPWR?

Reusable packaging is designed, and supported by a reuse system, for multiple rotations for the same purpose. Recovering a reel core intact so it re-enters production is a concrete example of reuse of a packaging component (aligned with EN 13429).

What makes packaging "recyclable" under PPWR?

From 2030 packaging must be designed for material recycling; from 2035 it must be recyclable at scale. Keeping the residual material in a clean, single-resin stream — free of core fragments and contamination — is what allows it to be effectively recycled.