In this article
From 12 February 2027 you must let a guest fill their own container. From 2030 you can no longer use single-use packaging on the premises. The EU's packaging law (PPWR) is not a vague future promise any more — it is concrete dates, and seven numbers tell you exactly what changes, who gets an exemption, and what switching costs.
There is a lot of noise about 'the EU is banning plastic' — enough to dismiss the whole thing until it catches you off guard one day. The reality is more precise and easier to plan around: the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR, Regulation (EU) 2025/40) places a series of concrete obligations on anyone who sells food or drink to take away or have delivered, each with a hard date.
This is a house document, not legal advice — the regulation applies EU-wide, but transposition into national enforcement, inspections and fines differs per member state. Check with your own sector or trade association for how your country applies it, especially the small-business exemption.
What is the same everywhere: the regulation touches three things at once. What you may charge a takeaway guest for using their own container. Whether you must offer an actual borrow-and-return reusable system alongside 'bring your own'. And, from 2030, whether you may still use disposable plates and cups on the premises itself.
Seven numbers give you the core of it: two deadlines, an exemption that covers most independents, a ban, a target, a price that is already running somewhere at scale, and proof that the system works. Work out what switching costs you with the calculator further down.
Why this deserves your attention now
PPWR is not a proposal any more — it entered into force as a regulation on 26 February 2025, which means it applies directly in every member state, without a national parliament first having to transpose it into its own law the way a directive would need. The first hard deadline for hospitality falls within a year and a half.
The dates arrive faster than most businesses assume, and they arrive in stages: first the guest's right to use their own container, then the obligation to offer an actual system, and only after that the full ban on the premises itself. Planning now spreads the cost over three years instead of having to sort everything at once in 2029.
And the cost is exactly what this article focuses on — not the legal text, but what each number means for a business trading today: which deadline comes first, whether you have an exemption, what a reusable system costs per use against single-use, and whether that already works at real scale somewhere.
The 7 numbers
In chronological and practical order — from the first deadline to the proof that the system already runs.
1. 12 February 2027 — the right to bring your own container
From this date, any business that hands over food or drink to take away must let a guest have their own clean, suitable container filled — their own cup for coffee, their own box for chips, their own jar for soup. You may not charge extra for it, and you may not treat that guest worse than someone taking the single-use option.
This is the cheapest step to comply with: no new infrastructure, just an instruction at the counter or till, and a short line in your hygiene protocol on how you check a container someone brings in and refuse it if it isn't clean enough. Most businesses that already allow this do it at no real cost.
2. 12 February 2028 — offering an actual reusable system
A year later comes the heavier obligation: alongside allowing a guest's own container, you must also offer a reusable system for takeaway — a container or cup the business itself lends out, which the guest later returns (to you or through a shared network) against a deposit.
This is where the real choice sits: do you build a small loop of your own with your own containers, or join an existing network that takes over the washing, logistics and management for a fee per use? Number six further down gives you a real price to work with.
3. Under 10 employees and €2 million turnover — who gets an exemption
Businesses with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of at most €2 million fall under the SME exemption — a threshold most independent restaurants, cafés and caterers meet in principle. That is good news, with an important caveat.
The exemption covers part of the obligations, not all of them — and exactly which part differs per member state and is still being filled in through implementing rules. Don't assume 'small enough' means 'nothing changes': check with your own hospitality or trade federation exactly which obligations your exemption does and doesn't cover, and check again once your country's transposition is published.
4. 2030 — the ban on single-use on the premises
This is the heaviest date. From 2030 you may no longer use single-use plates, cups, cutlery and single-portion sauces, tubs or trays on the premises itself — for anyone eating or drinking on-site. That applies equally to restaurants, cafés, hotels and caterers.
'On the premises' is the key: for takeaway and delivery, single-use packaging remains allowed, as long as you also offer the reusable alternative from number two. The practical impact mostly falls on the crockery you might still use as single-use when a terrace has to turn tables fast, or the individual sauce tubs at a breakfast buffet.
Four dates, in order — from the right to bring your own container to the full ban on single-use on the premises.
Germany's deposit scheme already hits today the collection rate the EU wants EU-wide by 2029 — the proof that this works at scale already exists.
5. 10% — the EU's reusable-takeaway target for 2030
By 2030, at least 10% of the takeaway food and drink you sell must be capable of running through a reusable system — that's the EU-wide target from Article 33 of the regulation. Important to read carefully: this is an obligation to provide the option at that scale, not a guarantee that 10% of your guests will actually choose it.
For a business running 150 takeaway orders a week, 10% works out to 15 orders a week through a reusable system — a number concrete enough to plan around now. The calculator further down converts that figure into your own number.
6. €1 to €5 — what a deposit already costs in practice
This doesn't have to stay theory: networks running at real scale, such as RECUP in Germany, already charge a deposit of typically €1 to €5 per reusable cup or container today — refunded as soon as the guest returns the item at any participating business, not just yours.
That figure is useful because it shows the logistics already exist and already work at scale, not because it tells you your own cost: the deposit is what the guest pays and (on return) gets back, while your own cost per use — purchase, washing, transport, loss — sits separately. The calculator further down lets you work with your own estimate of that cost.
An illustrative breakdown of where the cost per item goes, on both sides.
Single-use
Reusable
The exact ratio differs per network and material — this shows the SHAPE of the cost, not an exact price.
7. 90% versus 98% — the proof that collection at scale works
By 2029, member states must separately collect 90% of single-use plastic and metal drink containers, typically through a deposit-return scheme. That figure isn't a guess: Germany has run a mandatory deposit scheme for cans and plastic bottles for years and achieves a collection rate of around 98% with it.
For a business trying to judge whether this system will actually work in practice, that is the most convincing argument: the infrastructure, the consumer habit and the logistics already exist at national scale, and the EU's own target sits below what one member state already achieves today.
What switching costs you — work it out
The seven numbers above tell you what's required and by when. They don't tell you what it actually costs you to run part of your takeaway through a reusable system — that depends on your own volume and your own cost per use.
Enter your own numbers. The cost per use of a reusable system is an estimate you set yourself — work with what a network in your area charges, or your own estimate of purchase, washing and loss, once you know it.
Calculate: single-use versus reusable
Your volume, your cost per order, your annual difference.
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The cost per use of the reusable system is an estimate you set yourself — this does not count any saving on waste disposal or EPR fees, only the direct packaging cost.
The result above does not count any saving on waste disposal, any lower EPR fee (the fee you already pay for the packaging you place on the market) or any possible revenue gain from guests who appreciate a reusable option — this is strictly the direct packaging cost, single-use against reusable.
Use it as a starting point for budgeting, not as an exact forecast: the real price per use of a reusable system depends on the network you choose, how close it is to your business, and how well guests actually return the item.
What to do with this, this week
The deadlines are years apart, but the preparation doesn't have to be — this order spreads the cost instead of having to sort everything at once by 2030.
Today
- Check whether you fall under the SME exemption (under 10 employees, at most €2 million turnover) and exactly which obligations it covers in your country.
- Look at how you currently treat a guest who brings their own container, and adjust your counter or till instruction ahead of 12 February 2027.
- Count how many takeaway and delivery orders you run per week — that's the number everything below builds on.
Before 12 February 2028
- Compare at least two reusable networks in your area (or the cost of building your own loop) and ask for their price per use.
- Use the calculator above to work out what 10% of your takeaway through such a system genuinely costs you, with the price you just got.
- Decide whether you join an existing network or build your own system — the first option usually costs more per use but needs no logistics of your own.
Before 2030
- List what single-use crockery you still use on the premises itself today — plates, cups, cutlery, sauces — and what the reusable alternative costs.
- Spread that replacement over the years in between instead of having to buy it all in 2029.
- Revisit your takeaway prices if the reusable system's cost per use turns out higher than what single-use costs you now.
In short
PPWR is not a single measure but a timeline: the right to bring your own container in 2027, an actual borrow-and-return system in 2028, and the full ban on single-use on the premises itself in 2030 — with a 10% reusable-takeaway target along the way.
Most independent businesses fall under the SME exemption for part of these obligations, but not all of them — and the system you join already exists at real scale elsewhere in Europe, with a deposit of €1 to €5 and a collection rate that already beats the EU's own target.
Plan now and you spread the cost over three years. Wait until 2029 and you have to sort everything at once — and usually pay more for it too.