​The European Union is making a significant move towards sustainable packaging, through the introduction of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). PPWR marks a transformative shift in how packaging is designed, labelled, utilised and disposed of across the EU.Currently, packaging labelling requirements vary widely between EU countries. While...

​In March 2025, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) published a 182-page report summarising the results of the 2024 stakeholder consultation on waste sortation labelling. The original stakeholder consultation, which ran from 2 September to 30 September 2024, sought to gather perspectives from industry experts on the potential design of t...

​Producers selling packaged goods in the EU will no longer be able to put the Green Dot on their packaging.We've all seen the Green Dot: a green circle made of two arrows, normally placed on the corner of packaging. But what does it mean?The original idea behind placing the Green Dot on packaging was to show that the producer had paid their EPR fees to a ...

​The How2Recycle (H2R) label, launched in 2012, is a voluntary labelling program designed to make recycling guidance simple and consistent across brands, helping consumers make informed choices. As recycling regulations and consumer expectations evolve, H2R recently introduced two new label types—How2Recycle Pro and How2Recycle Plus—to offer even clearer,...

​Approximately 85% of plastic packaging worldwide ends up in landfill rather than recycling. This is why EPR is so important, to make sure producers make more effort to ensure their packaging ends up in recycling. EPR stands for Extended Producer Responsibility. It is a policy approach where producers must take responsibility for their products throughout...

The US Plastics Pact is a voluntary initiative based on the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's global commitment. This pact involves cooperation between businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations to drive the transition towards a circular economy for plastics by reducing waste, improving recycling, and redesigning plastic packaging. Previously...

​Are you an exporter or a producer to Indonesian market? Be careful with your labelling making environmental claims because Indonesia has recently introduced a new eco-labelling criteria to promote environmentally sustainable practices across the country. The criteria, known as the SNI (Standar Nasional Indonesia or Indonesian National Standard) eco-label...

​If you are reading this blog, you probably recognise the chasing arrows symbol from packaging that you interact with on a daily basis. However, you might not know what it means, or the history behind it. The symbol has actually become problematic for recycling, which is why we have started to see some governments legislating on the use of the symbol. The...

The Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (Green Guides) were first released by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 1992 and have been revised several times since then. The Green Guides were designed to prevent marketers from misleading consumers by using certain environmental claims on their products. The guides are not laws, they do ...

​As anyone who has tried to design a packaging solution that can be placed in multiple markets will know from bitter experience, European labelling legislation is complex and occasionally contradictory. Does the EU's proposed Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation offer some hope for the future?At the moment, there are no mandatory EU-wide labelling re...

​After much speculation and anticipation, the EU has released its proposed Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, a revision to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD). One of the key changes within the proposal is a change in legal standing, turning it into a 'Regulation' and not a 'Directive'. This means that if implemented, the new regula...

​The European Union's current battery legislation was introduced in 2006 with Directive 2006/66/EC. With the current directive being subject to differing interpretations and with battery technology having changed substantially since 2006, the EU is now working on implementing new regulations. First presented in 2020, the new battery regulations showcased ...

​The French producer responsibility organization for packaging, CITEO, released specific and thorough labelling guidance for their members at the end of last year, to help producers follow the less-detailed requirements of the law. As explained in a previous Lorax EPI blog from last year, the French law requires producers to include component pictograms (...

Lorax EPI would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! With the new year comes new obligations. This blog explores some of the global environmental packaging legislation that came into effect on 1 January 2022.Labelling: France's mandatory labelling system has been updated to obligate use of the Triman logo on all packaging. Sorting instructions must be ...

​Extended producer responsibility (EPR) in Russia is governed by two main bodies: the Russian government and the Eurasian Economic Union, or EAEU. Member States of the EAEU include Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, and regulations made by this body affect all affiliated countries. The main EPR system in Russia is set by the Russian gove...

Due to changes in French law, there are now even stricter regulations regarding the labels on packaging in France. As a result, the main producer responsibility organisation, CITEO, has published labelling guidelines for their members, showing the mandatory labels to be used.France is introducing new sorting labels, and part of this change expands the use...

With so much global focus on transitioning to a circular economy, the packaging industry continues to explore sustainable alternatives to typical virgin plastic resins. ​'Bio-plastics' and 'degradable plastics' have become a hot topic in packaging design lately. However, do you understand these concepts, and are you marking your packaging correctly?Bio-ba...

The EU Single-Use Plastics Directive, which was passed by the EU Commission in May 2019, enacts bans on certain single-use products, recycled content targets for some plastics and measures to reduce plastic food and beverage containers. It also requires Member States to ensure that national laws mandate new labels for sanitary towels, wet wipes, tobacco f...

​PCR Content and Its BenefitsPost-consumer recycled content (PCR) refers to material that is made from items recycled by consumers. Usually, recyclable items such as plastics, metals and cardboards/paper are collected by the local recycling program and transported to facilities for sorting based on material type. Recycled bales will then be purchased and ...

​Per the Act on the Promotion and Saving and Recycling Resources, after the packaging recyclability evaluation, all packaging in South Korea needs to be labelled appropriately by December 2021. Here comes the question: What are the requirements of labelling?Separate Discharge Mark RequirementThe use of a separate discharge mark is mandatory for a list of ...

​France's 2020 Circular Economy law (the Loi AGEC) has resulted in many changes to their packaging, WEEE and batteries requirements - including substantial alterations to labelling regulations.Triman and sorting instructionsFrom 1 January 2022, the Triman logo will be obligatory on all household packaging except beverage glass (currently only mandatory fo...

​At the beginning of 2020, France passed a comprehensive new law to amend its Environment Code (see our earlier blog for more details), which among many other things introduced new labelling requirements. Since then, a draft decree has also been published, which provides more details about what producers will need to do in future.​From 2021, any packagin...

The On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL)​ has launched a review of its labelling rules which will, for the first time, take into account the recycling infrastructure, in addition to developments in collections services. ​The new rules will take into account the sorting processes at Material Recycling Facilities (MRFs) and the likelihood of that material being r...