What PPWR means for Food Service brands
Europe's packaging rules have moved. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) — Regulation (EU) 2025/40 — entered into force on 11 February 2025 and has applied across the EU since 12 August 2026. It points the whole market in one direction: less single-use plastic, more material that can actually be recovered. For brands built on single-dose formats — sauces, condiments, dressings, spreads, samples — it's a question worth acting on now.
The tension: convenience vs. plastic
Single-dose earns its place in food service: portion control, hygiene, no waste per serving, a clean on-the-go experience. The friction isn't the format — it's the material. Today that convenience is delivered almost entirely by conventional single-use plastic: sauce sachets, stick packs, and thermoformed cups and tubs sealed with a peelable plastic film lid. A few grams of multilayer plastic at a time, multiplied by millions of servings — exactly what the regulation is steering the market away from. The answer isn't to give up single-dose. It's to change what single-dose is made of.
We looked at the wider regulatory picture in the future of sustainable single-dose packaging under the PPWR. This article is narrower and more practical: what changes for food service, where portions are served outside the home and the pack is part of the experience.
What Papersnap is designed to replace
Two formats carry most of the portions served in food service today, and paper-based single-dose is built to take over both: plastic sachets and stick packs — the default for ketchup, mayo, mustard, dressings and syrups — and thermoformed cups and tubs with a film lid — the default for dips, jams, honey, butter and condiments served at the table.
This isn't a substitution reserved for a handful of SKUs. The starting assumption is that your range moves across: a pilot then confirms the fit product by product — viscosity, fill volume, shelf life — rather than the other way round.
Where paper-based single-dose fits
Papersnap is a paper-based single-dose format: over 80% paper, under 5% plastic. It's designed for the direction European packaging rules are heading — and, unlike a lot of "eco" claims, the substance is independently verified:
- Recyclable in the standard paper stream — Cyclos-HTP certified.
- Assessed as technically recyclable under the CEPI / 4evergreen recyclability evaluation protocol.
- FSC Chain of Custody: paper fibre from responsibly managed forests.
Paper doesn't cost you the experience — it upgrades it
Against a plastic sachet, Papersnap removes the tear: no two hands, no teeth, no unpredictable tear line, no squeezing the corner to get the last of the product out. Against a thermoformed cup, it removes the peel: no film lid flicking sauce across the table, no rigid tub left behind.
One hand opens the pack — fold, press — and the product is dispensed precisely, where it's needed. Packaging is the last gesture that delivers your product intact, and Papersnap keeps that gesture simple enough for everyone to open. For brands already using Easysnap, the move is even simpler: the opening gesture is identical, in a paper-based structure.
The pack is half the answer. The proof is the other half.
Moving on sustainability isn't only about the pack — it's about being able to show your work. With every Papersnap format you get more than the packaging: the composition data and the third-party recyclability assessments to support your own sustainability documentation.
You set the target. Papersnap gives you the pack and the proof to hit it.
What food-service brands can do now
- Map where single-use plastic sits in your range: sachets, stick packs, thermoformed cups and their film lids.
- Plan the switch at range level, not as a one-SKU exception — paper-based single-dose is designed to replace those formats across sauces, condiments, dressings and spreads.
- Confirm fit product by product — viscosity, fill volume, shelf life — in a pilot rather than on paper.
- Test with real volumes before committing — through food co-packing and a pilot run, with no capital investment.
Easy for people, sustainable for the planet. Ready to explore it for your product? Contact us.
PPWR and single-dose packaging: frequently asked questions
What is the PPWR?
The PPWR is Regulation (EU) 2025/40, the European Union's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. It replaces the previous packaging directive and, being a regulation, applies directly in every member state without national transposition. Its aim is to reduce packaging waste, make all packaging recyclable and cut avoidable single-use plastic.
When does the PPWR come into force?
It entered into force on 11 February 2025 and has applied since 12 August 2026. Further obligations — on recycled content, recyclability performance grades and reuse targets — phase in towards 2030, 2035 and 2040.
Does the PPWR apply to companies outside the EU?
Yes. It covers all packaging placed on the EU market, regardless of where it was produced. A brand in the UK, the US or Asia that exports single-dose packs into the EU is in scope.
Which plastic formats can Papersnap replace?
The single-use plastic formats food service relies on today: sauce sachets and stick packs, and thermoformed cups and tubs with a peelable film lid. Papersnap is designed as a replacement across a range of sauces, condiments, dressings and spreads — not as a niche alternative for selected products. What a pilot establishes is the fit of each specific product: viscosity, fill volume and shelf life.
Are paper-based sachets recyclable?
Not automatically — it depends on the laminate structure, the coatings and the amount of plastic left in the pack. This is why third-party assessment matters. Papersnap is Cyclos-HTP certified as recyclable in the standard paper stream and has been assessed as technically recyclable under the CEPI / 4evergreen protocol.
Does moving from plastic to paper make the pack harder to use?
No — it makes it easier. A plastic sachet has to be torn and squeezed; a thermoformed cup has to be peeled. Papersnap keeps the one-hand opening gesture and the high restitution of the Easysnap format: the same portion control and the same clean dispensing, in a paper-based structure.
