Custom PPWR software for design and reporting
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation has applied since 12 August 2026, but the requirements that cost money take effect in 2030: recyclability classes, recycled content, reuse targets and the first banned formats. The problem is the sequence. A package you design now will still be on the shelf in 2030, and by then it is too late to change anything about it.
Why 2030 is already your problem
Regulation (EU) 2025/40 replaced the former directive with a regulation, meaning its rules apply directly across the Union and are not transposed country by country. It entered into force on 11 February 2025 and has applied generally since 12 August 2026. From that point on, producers, importers and suppliers must be able to formally demonstrate that their packaging meets the new requirements.
The focal point is 2030. From then on, packaging must be recyclable and classified by performance class: class C requires at least seventy per cent recyclability by weight, and from 2038 only class A above ninety-five per cent and class B above eighty per cent will be permitted. The same year sees the introduction of requirements for recycled content, reuse targets and the first bans on certain packaging formats.
Here lies the difficulty. Packaging development takes years: design, material selection, moulds, machine lines, testing, rollout. Whatever you commit to this year will still be on shelves in 2030. The question, then, is not whether you will comply in 2030, but whether you know today where each package stands and what needs to change. That is a question of record-keeping, not reporting. The regulation itself is available on EUR-Lex.
The packaging is one thing, the product inside it another. Under the Ecodesign Regulation, that product will soon have its own digital product passport detailing its composition and repair information; how to set that up without knowing the list of fields is covered in software for the digital product passport.
Alongside the requirements for the packaging itself, there is a registration obligation in each member state. Since August 2026, there is no market access without EPR registration; see software for EPR registration by EU country. For checks at dispatch, see the EPR app.
How we build this
Here, the unit is not the report but the package. Once it is established for each package what it is made of, every assessment follows from that.
Which packaging you place on the market, which components and materials it consists of, and what each part weighs. At most companies, this information is scattered across specifications, purchase orders and the head of packaging development.
How you move from material composition to a recyclability class, and how you calculate the share of recycled content. These rules will still change before 2030, so they should be configurable rather than hard-coded.
Every sprint ends with something you can check for yourself, and we start at the moment a new package is designed. That is where the gain lies, because it is the last point at which changes are cheap.
We have the system run your current range against the 2030 requirements. The outcome is rarely pleasant, and it is precisely why you are building this now rather than in three years' time.
What the software actually does
The packaging register with its material breakdown underpins everything; the assessment and reporting follow from it. Which components you need depends on how broad your range is.
Register per package and component
Each package broken down into components with their material, weight and origin. For the regulation, a box with a window, a closure and a label is not one box but four materials, and the class follows from the whole.
Class calculated per package
A percentage follows from the material breakdown, and with it a performance class. The system shows which component is pulling the class down, because that is the only information with which a designer can do anything.
Assessment at the design stage
A new package is assessed before the mould is ordered, not after it reaches the market. That moves the decision to the point at which it still costs next to nothing.
The timeline to 2030 and 2038
For each package, visible whether it complies now, whether it will comply in 2030, and whether it may still be sold in 2038. Three horizons side by side, so that an investment decision made today is tested against the right requirement.
Retrieving data from suppliers
Your packaging supplier, not you, knows the share of recycled content and the composition. A portal in which they supply that per component works better than an email exchange in which no one sees what is missing.
Justification kept per package
What your classification rests on, who supplied the data and when. In an inspection, what matters is not the figure itself but where it comes from, and which version applied when you placed the package on the market.
Who we build for
Your position in the chain determines which part you can control yourself. Four situations.
Packaging manufacturers
You make the packaging and so determine its material composition. Your customers will ask you for this data, and whoever gets that side in order becomes the supplier of choice. If your production runs through a packaging production system, the material data is already held there; that page covers costing and machinery, while this one covers the regulation.
Brand owners and producers
You buy in packaging and place the packaged product on the market. Your risk is that you depend on data held by your supplier, while the obligation sits with you. If you also place textiles or equipment on the market, separate reporting obligations apply alongside; see EPR textiles and WEEE reporting.
Retail and own brand
For your own-brand range, you are the party placing the product on the market. With hundreds of items, the inventory is already a project in itself, and you cannot postpone it until the year the requirements take effect. Product master data often comes from your PIM.
Import and distribution
You import packaged products and are therefore often the first to place them on the market in the Union. The supplier is outside the EU and may not know the regulation; requesting the data is then the entire task.
Test your idea first: a working prototype in 1 day
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The rules on classification and recycled content are still being developed up to 2030. Everything connected to that development should therefore be configurable and stored per version, so that an old classification remains readable against the rules of the time.
Why Appfront
The decision falls now; the requirement takes effect in 2030
A packaging development runs for years. We therefore build the assessment into the design, because afterwards changing it means a mould and a production line.
Show which component is the problem
A class without a cause is a number nobody can act on. The system identifies the component that brings the classification down.
The data sits with your supplier
You can't calculate what you don't know. We build the data-collection side through integrations and a portal, and make visible what is missing.
Honest about what is still moving
The detailed rules on classification and the share of recycled content are not yet finalised. We therefore build the rules as settings rather than as code, and we make no claims about exactly how they will read.
Security and privacy
This file contains hardly any personal data, but it does contain sensitive business information: the material composition of your packaging is close to your formulation and your cost price, and the data your supplier provides is confidential towards them. We therefore restrict access by role, and in the portal a supplier sees only their own components, not your range.
The evidential side is a special case. Because the rules are still being developed up to 2030, you must later be able to show which version of the rules a classification rested on and which supplier data applied at that time. We keep both: the submitted values as they arrived and the rule version used for the calculation. A system that only knows the current outcome cannot explain during an inspection why a packaging was assessed differently at the time. Our own approach to security is set out in our information security policy; reports from outside go through our CVD policy.
Frequently asked questions about the PPWR
Regulation (EU) 2025/40 entered into force on 11 February 2025 and has applied in full since 12 August 2026. As it is a regulation rather than a directive, it applies directly in all Member States without national transposition. The most demanding requirements come later, so check each obligation separately, as the deadlines differ.
From then on, packaging must be recyclable and is graded into performance classes, with class C requiring at least seventy per cent by weight. The same year also brings requirements for recycled content, reuse targets and the first bans on certain packaging formats. From 2038, only class A packaging above ninety-five per cent and class B packaging above eighty per cent will still be permitted.
Because packaging you design today may still be in production in 2030. Moulds, production lines and supplier contracts run for years. If you only start taking stock in 2029, you may find that some of your range can no longer be changed in time. Even the stocktake itself takes months for a broad range.
The obligation rests with the party placing the product on the market, and that is you. The data sits with your supplier. That is precisely why a supplier portal is not an optional extra in this system: without the material composition and recycled content from suppliers, you cannot calculate anything or demonstrate compliance.
From the components of a packaging item, with their material and weight, according to the rules you configure. It also shows which component pulls the class down, as that is the only output a designer can actually act on. The precise calculation rules are still being finalised, so we build them as a configurable component and record, for each classification, which version of the rules was applied.
Systems for the packaging industry deal with costing, orders and machine fleets: what this packaging costs and how we make it. The PPWR asks something different, namely what it is made of and whether it will still be permitted. We integrate with what you already have rather than rebuilding it; see packaging industry software.
The data partly overlaps, but the logic does not. Extended producer responsibility concerns weight per category and annual reporting; the PPWR concerns the properties of the packaging itself and what will still be permitted. What is worthwhile is collecting the item data once and using it for both. See EPR for textiles for that side.
That depends on the number of packaging items, whether the supplier portal is needed and whether integration with your PIM or ERP is required. The register with the classification calculation is usually quick to become useful and delivers the most value; the portal and integrations cost more. We give a substantiated estimate after the discovery phase.
Building PPWR software?
Pick three packaging items from your range and try to write down what they are made of, per component and per weight. Wherever you have to make calls, that's where the work lies. We build this as a standalone application and as part of a broader custom software project. If the data flow runs through integrations with your suppliers, we build those too.