what percentage of recycled plastic must be mandatory in my packaging

Recycled content percentages are not yet definitive

The mandatory percentages of recycled plastic in plastic packaging cannot currently be stated as fixed, directly applicable figures: Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 works with minimum percentages that differ per packaging category (think of contact-sensitive packaging, other plastic packaging, PET bottles and other bottles), and the exact implementation and timeline for these are still to follow via implementing acts of the European Commission. For anyone already designing or purchasing packaging now, it is clear that an obligation is coming that will have different implications per material type and application — but assigning a specific percentage per packaging type to "your" situation without the definitive implementing provisions would currently go beyond what the text of the regulation allows.

This obligation is separate from, but closely linked to, the rules on empty space in transport packaging: while Article 24 concerns the amount of air and filling material in a box, Article 7 concerns the composition of the plastic itself. Both elements land in practice around the same period, and anyone wanting to know what changes in 2030 for transport packagingwill find the two obligations side by side there. Because the percentages differ per packaging category and will receive further implementation, this section is typically a place where it is advisable to continue monitoring developments rather than designing to a specific figure now.

What Article 7 does and does not establish

Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 establishes the obligation to use a minimum percentage of recycled material in plastic packaging as a principle, with differentiation by packaging category, but the associated calculation rules, certification requirements and precise implementation dates for each category are to be further elaborated via implementing acts that have not all yet been definitively established. This is also the reason why this subject carries the label "still to be determined": the regulation itself exists, the exact figures per product group and the associated timeline do not yet fully exist. For the broader context of when each PPWR obligation comes into effect, what the PPWR is exactly and since when it has applied provides an overview of the phasing.