One hand grabs a takeaway cup across the counter. The other carries a salad in a plastic box, a fork included, used once and discarded before the receipt even fades. It feels like everyday life, yet it is a logistics system that produces, moves and disposes of millions of packaging items every single day. Disposable packaging did not win because it was smarter. It won because it was frictionless. That friction is coming back. Brussels is tightening the rules from the top, while cities and municipalities start putting a price tag on disposable packaging where it is most visible: in streets, bins, parks and public cleaning budgets. In 2026, reusable packaging will grow less from conviction and more from pressure applied from above and below.

This blog series takes a clear look at what “reusables in 2026” really means. Part 1 maps the political frame. The next parts move into industry, retail and ecommerce, the places where reuse systems already run at scale or still struggle to get traction. The final part lands where every strategy ends up: the real world, where people either play along or walk away.
 

PPWR sets the pace

The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, the PPWR, acts like a metronome for the market. It was published in the Official Journal on 22 January 2025, enters into force 20 days later, and applies from 12 August 2026. From that point on, packaging decisions stop being “national”. They become European by default, because the rules are harmonized across Member States.

The PPWR starts where waste prevention starts: at the beginning. Its logic is simple and hard to dodge. Prevent packaging waste before it exists, then recycle what cannot be avoided. That is why reuse moves to the center of gravity. Yes, the PPWR still covers recyclability, labelling and recycled content. Those rules can improve disposable packaging. Reuse does something else: it rewires processes. Return flows, sorting, washing capacity, tracking and responsibility suddenly matter as much as material choices. From 2026 onwards, that system logic gains real weight.

The deadlines make the direction even clearer. Member States must reduce packaging waste generated per capita compared with 2018 by at least 5% by 2030, 10% by 2035 and 15% by 2040. 
 

The targets that actually push reuse forward

The most tangible push comes from reuse targets for transport and shipping packaging. From 1 January 2030, at least 40% of certain transport packaging used within the EU must be reusable and used within a reuse system. The 2040 target rises to 70%. The list is not niche: pallets, boxes and trays, plastic crates, intermediate bulk containers, pails, drums and canisters are explicitly in scope, and even flexible wrapping formats and pallet straps show up in the same logic.

Beyond targets, the PPWR also points to a new “default” in routine logistics. For transport between sites of the same operator, between different operators within the same Member State, or between sites within the EU, operators must ensure that transport packaging is reusable. There are carve outs, including certain cardboard boxes, some sensitive contact packaging for food, and specific cases like dangerous goods transport. The message, however, is clear: transport packaging is no longer treated as a disposable accessory. It becomes part of operational design.

Similar guardrails appear for beverage packaging. The PPWR sets reuse targets for alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages: 10% by 2030 and 40% by 2040, with detailed exemptions that include, among others, milk and milk products and specific categories of wine and spirits under customs codes. Reuse is meant to be visible, available and commercially normal, not a niche program.

In takeaway, the regulation steps directly into daily habits. By 12 February 2027, many operators must allow customers to bring their own containers and fill them without extra charges for the packaging. By 12 February 2028, they must also offer an option in reusable packaging within a system for reuse. From 2030, the regulation moves further and expects operators to reach at least 10% of products in reusable packaging formats, with specific exemptions for micro enterprises.

All of this is reinforced by a practical detail that often decides whether reuse scales: information. Reusable packaging must be clearly labelled as reusable and further information on how and where it circulates must be accessible via a QR code or another standardized digital data carrier. The label is not decoration. It is meant to reduce confusion at the point of sale and make reuse systems easier to use in practice.

This is where the corporate question changes. It is no longer primarily about whether a material is recyclable. It is about whether a loop performs: availability, loss rates, turnaround times, reverse logistics, cleaning capacity, data quality. Packaging stops being a pure procurement item and becomes an operational system that must be designed, managed and owned.

Local authorities put a price on disposables

EU rules set the long arc. Local policy often makes change feel immediate, because it shows up at the till. Germany is an instructive case because the debate has become very concrete. Environmental organizations such as Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) are campaigning for disposable packaging charges and for municipal packaging taxes, aiming to make disposable takeaway packaging materially more expensive and give reuse systems a fairer starting point. Depending on the DUH publication, proposed nationwide charges have been framed at “at least” 20 cents per takeaway packaging item.

The political turning point came with legal clarity. In an order published on 22 January 2025, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court rejected a constitutional complaint against the City of Tübingen’s disposable packaging tax. The complainant, a McDonald’s franchisee, argued that the city lacked the legislative competence to levy such a tax. The court did not accept the complaint, effectively confirming that well designed municipal packaging taxes can be lawful under German constitutional rules on local consumption taxes.

Since then, momentum has shifted from theory to rollout. According to DUH reporting cited in German municipal coverage, 155 cities have expressed interest in packaging taxes as a lever to curb disposable takeaway waste.
 

Freiburg shows what “expensive” looks like

The German city of Freiburg turned the idea into a simple, cash register friendly tariff from 1 January 2026. Disposable cups and many disposable meal containers trigger a 50 cent tax per item. Disposable cutlery sets and straws trigger 20 cents. If a single order uses multiple disposable components, the tax stacks. What used to be a forgettable packaging cost becomes a visible line item that eats into margins.

Local government expectations underline that this is not symbolic politics. Freiburg’s own municipal communication explains the structure and scope, while regional reporting around the rollout discusses revenue expectations of around 2.2 million euros in the first year.

For a pan European audience, Germany is not the only signal. Similar pressure already exists in other forms. France has required reusable tableware for on site consumption in many fast food settings since 2023, and the Netherlands introduced mandatory charges for disposable plastic cups and food containers in takeaway contexts in 2023. Different instruments, same direction: disposable convenience is being priced and regulated out of its old comfort zone.
 

No infrastructure, no reuse

Targets and taxes draw the map. Systems decide whether the journey works. Reuse needs space for returns, industrial washing capacity, standards across operators, and data that prevents pools from bleeding inventory. Many early reuse initiatives stayed small for exactly this reason: intent was present, operational backbone was missing.

Germany’s Single Use Plastics Fund shows how policy tries to finance that backbone, at least for the public costs of disposable litter. Under the fund mechanism, producers of certain single use plastic products pay annual contributions into a state managed fund. The money is administered by the Umweltbundesamt and is meant to reimburse municipalities for services such as collection, cleaning of public spaces, waste management and awareness measures. In short: those who place certain single use products on the market contribute to the downstream costs previously borne by the public.

The dispute is about the strength of the signal. In a DUH statement on the related fee regulation, the organization argues that specific per item fees are far too low to create real steering effects, citing examples such as 0.3 cents for a single use food container and 1.2 cents for a single use cup. Place those numbers next to Freiburg’s 50 cent tax and the political tension becomes obvious: some instruments compensate, others actually steer behavior.
 

Where the real test begins

Two forces now converge. The PPWR sets European deadlines, targets and definitions. Local policy makes disposables more expensive and more contested in day to day business. Together they raise the bar: reuse cannot remain a promise. It must become an organized, controllable system.

That is where Part 2 starts. In industry, especially in automotive logistics, returnable packaging has been normal for decades. The friction is rarely the container itself. It is the pool: cycles, losses, availability, transparency. Master that, and the payoff is not just compliance. It is savings, resilience and measurable sustainability.

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