By Lars Enge, EVP and Head of TOMRA Recycling
Most discussions around the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) focus on compliance. That's understandable. But from my perspective, the bigger story is economics.
Across Europe, PPWR is expected to drive growing demand for recycled content, particularly in high-value plastics applications. At the same time, expectations around quality, traceability and recyclability are becoming more demanding. Together, these developments are changing the economics of recycling.
Brand owners need recycled content to meet future requirements. Packaging producers need packaging that can be recycled in practice. Converters need reliable access to quality recyclates. MRFs are under pressure to deliver cleaner material streams. And recyclers are expected to supply genuine alternatives to virgin polymers.
What makes PPWR different is that it strengthens all of these trends at once. For many operators, this marks an important shift. Sorting is no longer just about recovering material – increasingly, it is about producing raw materials with defined quality specifications and documented performance.
Compliance is becoming measurable
One trend we are already seeing is a growing demand for proof. In the past, it was often enough to say a material was recyclable or contained recycled content. Going forward, customers, regulators and value-chain partners will want evidence – answers to questions such as:
- What materials entered the process?
- What contamination levels were present?
- How stable is the incoming feedstock?
- What purity was achieved?
- Can quality be monitored and documented over time?
For recyclers and MRF operators, the ability to answer those questions is becoming increasingly valuable. And this is where data plays a bigger role.
At TOMRA, we are seeing strong interest in material intelligence solutions that give deeper insight into waste streams and sorting performance, shifting the conversation from assumptions to facts, from periodic sampling to continuous understanding. Real-time data is becoming essential for understanding material flows, reducing losses, validating recycled content claims and demonstrating compliance, including for food-contact applications.
Every percentage point of purity has value
Quality has always mattered in recycling. Under PPWR, it becomes even more directly linked to market access.
A recycler producing material suitable for food-contact applications operates in a very different market from one producing lower-grade material. The same applies to bottle-to-bottle PET recycling, tray-to-tray PET recycling and future food-grade polyolefin applications. That's why purity matters: even relatively small improvements can significantly influence the value of the final product.
The quality levels required for circular packaging are increasingly achievable at industrial scale, and advanced sorting technology plays a critical role. Improved object recognition enabled by the latest deep-learning AI, more precise material separation and higher-purity flake production all help operators capture more value from every ton processed.
The goal isn't simply to sort better – it's to create material that can be used again and again in high-value applications. While PET remains an important focus, similar opportunities are emerging in food-grade polyolefins, as the market looks for high-quality recycled PP and PE.
In that sense, quality becomes more than an operational objective. It becomes a business opportunity, turning sorting from a processing step into a key driver of value creation.
Feedstock quality is becoming a strategic asset
One challenge that often receives less attention than recycled-content targets is feedstock availability. Recyclers can invest in additional capacity, but they still need access to the right material to support high-quality plastic recycling.
As competition for high-quality feedstock increases, MRFs and waste management operators play a crucial role in determining the quality of material that reaches recyclers, making the economics of sorting, recycling and packaging more interconnected than ever.
This is particularly clear in flexible packaging. Films represent a significant share of packaging placed on the market, but recycling infrastructure and end-market development still have room to grow, and PPWR is expected to increase demand for high-quality recycled film fractions.
For operators that can effectively recover and upgrade film fractions, this creates a significant opportunity for flexible packaging recycling and higher-value circular applications. The organizations that focus on feedstock quality today will be better positioned to capture value as these markets continue to develop.
Designing packaging for circularity
PPWR is not only influencing recyclers. It is also changing the way packaging is designed, with brand owners, packaging producers, recyclers and technology providers working more closely to validate designs, improve sortability and accelerate the use of high-quality recycled content.
Recyclability is no longer just a design ambition – it is becoming a measurable performance criterion. Under PPWR, packaging must demonstrate not only technical recyclability but also the ability to be effectively collected, sorted and recycled at scale in real-world systems, not just in theory.
While actual recovery still depends on local collection and sorting infrastructure, robust recyclability and sortability assessments are becoming essential for supporting compliance and demonstrating the quality outcomes that advanced mechanical recycling can achieve.
