As the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) begins to reshape packaging requirements across the bloc, compliance is extending beyond the boxes, bags and containers that consumers see on store shelves.

Transport packaging is also part of the regulatory picture — including pallets.

The European Pallet Association (EPAL) has responded by publishing EU declarations of conformity for its pallet systems, giving manufacturers, retailers and logistics operators documentation to support their use of EPAL pallets under the PPWR framework.

The development illustrates a broader consequence of the new packaging rules: businesses will increasingly need to understand and document packaging throughout the supply chain, including reusable transport packaging used to move goods between factories, warehouses and distribution centres.

PPWR Extends Into Transport Packaging

The PPWR generally applies from 12 August 2026, introducing harmonised requirements intended to reduce packaging waste and improve circularity across the European market.

Although much of the industry’s attention has focused on consumer-facing packaging, the regulation has a much wider scope.

Transport packaging falls within the framework, making pallets relevant to PPWR compliance.

For companies operating complex European supply chains, this distinction matters. A product may move through several forms of packaging before reaching a consumer — from primary product packaging to corrugated shipping cases, stretch film and pallets.

Companies therefore need to consider more than what appears on the retail shelf.

EPAL Publishes Declarations of Conformity

EPAL has published declarations of conformity covering its pallets in response to the new regulatory environment.

The organisation says the documentation confirms that the relevant EPAL pallets comply with applicable PPWR requirements, including requirements relating to substances in packaging.

The declarations also address two characteristics particularly important to the regulation: recyclability and reuse.

EPAL operates an open pallet exchange pool built around standardised reusable wooden pallets. According to the organisation, more than 1,700 licensees manufacture and repair EPAL Euro pallets.

Its international pool currently includes approximately 670 million EPAL Euro pallets and around 20 million EPAL Box pallets in circulation.

The scale of that network demonstrates why reusable transport packaging will be an important part of Europe’s wider packaging transition.

Reuse Fits the Existing Pallet Model

Unlike many single-use packaging formats, wooden pallet pooling already operates around repeated circulation.

A pallet can be loaded, transported, unloaded, exchanged, inspected, repaired where necessary and returned to service.

That existing operating model gives reusable pallet systems a different starting point as European businesses prepare for PPWR requirements.

“The reuse of packaging works particularly well when it is easily accessible and the pallets can be shared by as many companies as possible across different sectors,” said Dirk Hoferer, President of EPAL.

According to Hoferer, publishing the conformity declarations is intended to simplify compliance for companies using EPAL pallets, particularly those operating complex or cross-border supply chains.

Digital Pallet Passports Support Documentation

EPAL is also connecting regulatory documentation with its existing digital pallet infrastructure.

Users can access information through a QR code linked to the digital pallet passport for EPAL pallets.

The organisation originally introduced QR-coded pallets in 2024, with the digital passport initially containing production-related information. EPAL says it is now expanding the system so that key information concerning pallet use, reuse and PPWR compliance can also be made available digitally.

This is significant from a logistics perspective.

Physical packaging increasingly needs a corresponding information trail.

For companies managing thousands or millions of transport movements, digital access to standardised pallet information could make it easier to maintain documentation without creating a separate manual compliance process for every movement.

PPWR Is Becoming a Logistics Issue

The development also shows why PPWR should not be viewed exclusively as legislation for packaging manufacturers.

Retailers, manufacturers, importers, distributors, fulfilment operations and logistics providers all interact with packaging at different stages of the supply chain.

A warehouse, for example, may receive goods on reusable pallets, store them in corrugated cases, add secondary packaging for ecommerce fulfilment and then prepare another transport unit for distribution.

Each layer can involve different materials and regulatory considerations.

As companies review their packaging portfolios, pallets, crates, transport boxes and other logistics packaging therefore need to be included alongside primary and secondary packaging.

Packaging Equipment Is Likely to Change Too

PPWR is also likely to influence the machinery used to handle packaging.

As businesses reduce packaging material, increase recycled content, redesign packs for recyclability or remove unnecessary secondary packaging, automated systems may have to accommodate different material characteristics.

Lightweighted packaging, smaller pack dimensions and higher levels of post-consumer recycled material can behave differently during conveying, wrapping, palletising and other automated operations.

This means regulatory change can travel further upstream than the packaging specification itself.

It can eventually influence packaging machinery, material handling, warehouse automation and logistics planning.

Reusable Packaging Gains Greater Strategic Importance

The EPAL development highlights another important direction for the European packaging market: reusable systems are becoming more closely connected with corporate packaging strategy.

Reuse is not a new concept in industrial logistics. Wooden pallets, crates and other returnable transport systems have circulated through European supply chains for decades.

What is changing is their regulatory context.

Companies may increasingly need to demonstrate not only that packaging is reusable in theory, but that the system around it supports repeated circulation, recovery and appropriate end-of-life management.

Large open pooling systems offer one practical model because the packaging asset does not necessarily need to return directly to the company that originally dispatched it.

PPWR Compliance Reaches Beyond the Retail Shelf

For packaging and logistics professionals, the lesson is increasingly clear.

PPWR compliance does not stop with the package containing the product.

Transport packaging, reusable assets, packaging documentation and the systems used to track them are also becoming part of the conversation.

EPAL’s publication of conformity declarations and its use of digital pallet passports show how an established transport packaging system is adapting to that environment.

For European manufacturers and retailers, this makes packaging compliance an increasingly cross-functional responsibility involving procurement, packaging development, sustainability, logistics and supply chain management.

And for the wider packaging industry, it reinforces one of the most important changes created by PPWR: packaging is no longer simply something used to move and protect a product.

Its materials, reuse model, recyclability and compliance documentation are becoming part of how that product legally and efficiently moves through the European market.

Last Updated on 14/08/2026 by Jota Machinery