ZSVR publishes new minimum standard for recyclability

Portrait of Gunda Rachut

The new criteria for assessing the recyclability of packaging design are intended to provide an even clearer basis for evaluation.
 
Against the backdrop of the European Packaging Regulation (PPWR) and the Packaging Act Implementation Act (VerpackDG), the recyclability of packaging is becoming increasingly important. At the end of August 2026, the Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (Central Agency for Packaging Register, ZSVR), in agreement with the Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environment Agency, UBA), published the new edition of the minimum standard for assessing the recyclability of packaging design. The ZSVR states that this is intended to further simplify the determination of recyclability. The calculation is said to require only a small amount of data, assesses all materials according to the same rules and produces a percentage figure indicating what proportion by weight of a packaging item emerges as recyclable material in the recycling process, net of design-related losses. Gunda Rachut, Chair of the ZSVR, explains: “Sorting and recycling plants can only recover what the packaging releases. That is why the minimum standard only takes into account what actually ends up in the recycling process.” Anyone using the minimum standard today would therefore already know where their packaging stood in relation to the European requirement, under which, from 2030, only packaging that was at least 70 per cent recyclable may be placed on the market. Packaging that achieves a high level of recyclability according to the minimum standard were therefore well-equipped to meet future European requirements, according to the ZSVR.
 
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