The European Commission has adopted a delegated act removing the obligation for pallet wrapping and straps to meet a strict 100 % reuse requirement under the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).

The change follows industry feedback and a feasibility assessment showing that enforcing full reuse in transport operations could impose disproportionate costs and logistical challenges for businesses.

Change in reuse rules for pallet wrapping

Under the PPWR, which entered into force in February 2025, transport and sales packaging must meet an overall reuse target of 40 % by 1 January 2030, covering items such as pallets, crates and flexible packaging.

Previously, the legislation included an aspirational 100 % reuse target for pallet wrapping films and straps when used within the same company or between linked companies in the same Member State.

The new delegated act exempts these specific load-securing components from the 100 % requirement, allowing firms to focus on the broader 40 % target without the added burden of securing full reuse for these items.

The Commission’s study, conducted in response to stakeholder input, concluded that replacing single-use wrapping and straps with reusable systems in internal transport operations could lead to high adaptation costs, particularly where automated packaging processes are involved.

This assessment influenced the decision to grant the exemption and reflects practical constraints in current logistics and packaging systems.

Implications for EU packaging and logistics

The exemption affects businesses across the European Union that rely on pallet wrapping and straps to secure goods during transport.

By relieving economic operators from the strict 100 % reuse requirement for these components, the Commission aims to balance sustainability goals with operational and financial realities.

Firms will still need to meet the overall 40 % reuse target for transport packaging by 2030, but they can allocate efforts and investments to areas where reusable solutions are technically and economically feasible.

Industry associations have pointed to high adaptation costs as a major concern, with estimates suggesting that many companies would have faced significant investment in equipment, system redesign and staff training to comply with a 100 % reuse mandate.

The exemption is expected to reduce compliance complexity for logistics operations, although stakeholders focused on plastic pollution have expressed reservations about broad exemptions in EU reuse rules.

Broader context of EU packaging reform

The PPWR represents a major overhaul of EU packaging policy, replacing earlier directives with a harmonised regulatory framework aimed at reducing packaging waste, increasing recycled content and encouraging reuse and recyclability across all Member States.

Alongside reuse targets, the regulation includes measures for minimum recycled content in plastic packaging and mandatory recyclability by 2030.

The Commission opened the delegated act to public feedback from 10 December 2025 to 9 January 2026 as part of standard EU rule-making procedures before final adoption on 25 February 2026.

The implementation of the broader PPWR provisions will begin in August 2026 and extend towards the 2030 reuse and recycling targets.