{"id":13133,"date":"2026-08-24T10:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T07:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/?p=13133"},"modified":"2026-08-26T10:06:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T07:06:59","slug":"eu-plastic-packaging-growth-jrc-study-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/eu-plastic-packaging-growth-jrc-study-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic Packaging Was the Only Category to Grow in the EU Between 2011 and 2025, JRC Study Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu\/repository\/handle\/JRC147001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">study published by the Joint Research Centre<\/a> (JRC) in July 2026 analyzed packaging materials placed on the market across 19 EU Member States representing over 97 % of the EU population, using data from 2011 to 2025. Plastic was the only packaging material category that grew over the period, increasing by 11 % in absolute terms to reach 5.9 million tonnes and 14 kg per capita in 2025. Every other category (glass, metals, paper and cardboard and composite materials) either declined or remained stable.<\/p><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 ez-toc-wrap-center counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title ez-toc-toggle\" style=\"cursor:pointer\">TABLE OF CONTENTS<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/eu-plastic-packaging-growth-jrc-study-2026\/#What_the_Data_Shows\" >What the Data Shows<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/eu-plastic-packaging-growth-jrc-study-2026\/#Why_This_Matters_for_the_Packaging_Sector\" >Why This Matters for the Packaging Sector<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/eu-plastic-packaging-growth-jrc-study-2026\/#Conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_the_Data_Shows\"><\/span><strong>What the Data Shows<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At 98 kg per capita, the EU&#8217;s total packaging volumes remain substantial, with food and beverages driving 97 % of the total. Glass dominates by weight due to its density and the dominance of reusable and single-use beer bottles, which alone account for approximately 16.5 million tonnes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The plastic picture is uneven across the EU. Per-capita consumption ranges from around 8 kg in Sweden to 16 kg in Germany, with the EU average at 14 kg. Some markets, such as Belgium and France, have held steady, while others such as Ireland or Romania have seen consistent growth. Product mix also plays a role. Bottled water drives 46 % of Italy&#8217;s plastic packaging volume but just 6 % of Sweden&#8217;s. In polymer terms, PET leads in most countries, though PP is more prevalent in Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden, reflecting a broader product range beyond water and soft drinks. In Italy, bottled water accounts for 46 % of its total plastic packaging consumption.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-13129\" src=\"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1.1-1024x768.png\" alt=\"Plastic packaging waste with upward trend arrow, illustrating the 11 % growth in EU plastic packaging between 2011 and 2025 found by the JRC study\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1.1-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1.1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1.1-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1.1.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_This_Matters_for_the_Packaging_Sector\"><\/span><strong>Why This Matters for the Packaging Sector<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The JRC study provides the data infrastructure that will underpin several PPWR obligations. The modelling framework was developed specifically to support Member States in their mandatory reporting of packaging waste quantities and the methodology has now been extended to cover home care, personal care and pet food in addition to the existing food and beverage categories.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For producers and manufacturers, several implications follow from these numbers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The 11 % growth in plastic packaging between 2011 and 2025 runs directly counter to the PPWR&#8217;s waste prevention targets of 5 % reduction by 2030, 10 % by 2035 and 15 % by 2040, all measured against 2018 levels. Achieving these targets will require reversing a trend that, according to the JRC&#8217;s own data, has been moving in the opposite direction for over a decade.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The wide variation in per-capita plastic packaging across countries also has implications for how national EPR schemes will operate. Countries with higher per-capita volumes and therefore more packaging waste to manage, face a steeper path to meeting recycling and waste prevention targets, which in turn affects producer fee structures and reporting obligations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The polymer composition data is relevant for recycled content planning. The PPWR requires minimum recycled content in plastic packaging from 2030, with different targets depending on whether the packaging is contact-sensitive and what polymer it is made from. Knowing that PP exceeds PET in several Nordic markets, for example, is useful for producers sourcing recycled material for those markets.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The JRC data confirms what the PPWR was designed to address: plastic packaging volumes in the EU have continued to grow while other materials have stabilized or declined. With the PPWR now applicable and waste prevention targets running from 2030, the industry faces the task of reversing a 14-year upward trend. The variation across countries, polymers and product categories means that compliance strategies will need to be market-specific rather than one-size-fits-all.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The full JRC report and dataset are available through the <a href=\"https:\/\/publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu\/repository\/handle\/JRC147001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">EU Publications Repository<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A JRC study analysing 19 EU Member States found that plastic was the only packaging category to grow between 2011 and 2025, increasing 11 % to 5.9 million tonnes, while all other materials declined or remained stable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":13129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","category-industry-trends-reports-en","category-28","category-541","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13133"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13137,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13133\/revisions\/13137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.packlab.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}