August 12 Changes the Rules: Why Many Companies Lose Massive Money Daily Without Knowing It

As the EU’s new PPWR regulations take effect, thousands of businesses face mandatory supply chain transformations to eliminate costly inefficiencies and reduce environmental waste.

A New Era for EU Enterprises

Today, August 12, marks the beginning of a new era for thousands of enterprises across the European Union as key provisions of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) enter into force, forcing a transition toward a circular economy. Members of the BART management board commented on impending EU legal changes and their potential consequences for Polish business for Gazeta Prawna, presenting both a massive challenge and an opportunity to build competitive advantage on foreign markets.

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 of the European Parliament and of the Council, better known as PPWR, finally ends voluntary sustainable packaging design. The document, entering into force on August 12, 2026, establishes rigorous requirements for products introduced to the market, with the clear goal of curbing the drastically growing volume of waste—which already accounts for 36% of municipal solid waste in the EU—and forcing the design of packaging that is fully suitable for collection and recycling.

Process Transformation, Not Just Cosmetics

For business, the new regulations mean the necessity of a deep revision of the entire supply chain, ranging from product concept and logistics to ultimate waste management. Packaging ceases to be merely a protective layer for transported goods and becomes a key element determining the cost efficiency and carbon footprint of an organization.

“This is not a cosmetic change, but a fundamental correction of the entire approach to packaging and supply chains. In practice, it means the necessity of redesigning many processes—and quickly. Companies that treat this solely as a regulatory cost will lose. Those that approach it strategically can gain a competitive advantage and real savings,” says Grzegorz Hofman, CEO of BART.

Illusory Savings and the Problem of Transporting Air

Market experts emphasize that companies lose the most capital not on the packaging material itself, but on improper design, where using inappropriate box sizes results in the necessity of artificial fillers and transports empty spaces, generating unnecessary CO₂ emissions and massive financial losses often counted in millions of zlotys.

“The biggest problem is not what we make packaging from, but how we design and use it. In practice, we still too often ‘transport air’—poorly fitted boxes take up more space in transport, require additional fillers, and generate higher CO₂ emissions. These are real costs that, on the scale of large organizations, run into millions of zlotys annually,” adds Bartosz Mierzwiak, Management Board Member at BART.

The solution promoted by new regulations and experts is optimization according to the fit-to-size concept, where the ideal matching of packaging dimensions to product size, combined with the mono-materiality principle—eliminating the mixing of cardboard with plastic fillers—is currently the most effective optimization strategy.

“Often it is not large investments, but a change in approach that makes the biggest difference. Abandoning plastic fillers, limiting the number of materials in packaging, or using paper closure systems are simple decisions that have a huge impact on recycling possibilities and the environmental footprint,” explains Bartosz Dziepak, Management Board Member at BART.

Poland as a European Powerhouse

The entry into force of the PPWR is a test for the Polish economy, but also an opportunity to strengthen dominance, as Poland is currently the 4th largest corrugated cardboard producer in Europe and the undisputed leader in per capita production, with the sector accounting for nearly 4% of national industrial production.

The quality of Polish solutions is confirmed by export structures to the most demanding markets, with Sweden—a country recognized as a global pioneer of pro-ecological solutions—importing as much as 57% of all its packaging from Poland. Data shows that every fourth packaging item reaching the Swedish market from our country is produced by BART, proving that domestic technologies meet the highest Scandinavian standards.

Business Decisions in the New Reality

August 12, 2026, becomes a boundary date where packaging is a full-fledged business decision of strategic importance, affecting logistics costs, environmental fees, and consumer decisions that increasingly treat the ecological aspect as a criterion for assessing brand credibility. Enterprises must adapt to the new legal framework, and those that see the PPWR not as a barrier, but as a tool to optimize their operations, will win.

Legal Basis

REGULATION (EU) 2025/40 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 19 December 2024 on packaging and packaging waste, amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and Directive (EU) 2019/904, and repealing Directive 94/62/EC