EU Packaging Rules for Single-Use Hospitality Products

Selling in the United States? These are not your rules

This page describes EU law. If the goods are going to a table in the United States, almost none of it applies and the questions are different ones: whether the state you are selling into bans intentionally added PFAS in food packaging, whether the word compostable may legally appear on the pack, what the Lacey Act declaration needs for wooden items, and who acts as importer of record. Fourteen states have their own PFAS rules and paper sleeves are named in several of them. Our United States market page sets out what we can supply and what has to sit with the importer: susteez.com/en/market/united-states

It is the market that counts, not the origin

This is the single most misread point. A napkin printed in Turkey and a napkin printed in Portugal face exactly the same obligations once they reach a table in the EU. Sourcing outside the union does not create an exemption, and it does not create an extra burden either. What matters is the composition of the product, the claims on it and the market it is placed on.

Single-Use Plastics Directive (2019/904)

In force since July 2021. It bans placing on the market plastic cutlery, plates, straws, beverage stirrers, cotton bud sticks, and food and beverage containers made from expanded polystyrene. Bamboo and wooden cutlery, bamboo straws and paper-based products fall outside these bans. Several member states went further than the minimum: France in particular extended the scope, so check the individual market as well as the directive.

Wet wipes carry a marking obligation

Annex D of the same directive requires wet wipes that contain plastic to carry a visible marking stating so, in the language of the member state where they are sold. The mark must cover at least 6% of the surface and be printed in Helvetica Bold. Packs with a marking surface below 10 cm² are exempt. If the nonwoven cloth contains no plastic, the obligation does not apply — but you should hold a supplier statement on the composition before relying on that.

Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (2025/40)

Applies from 12 August 2026 with no grace period. It replaces the earlier packaging directive and, being a regulation rather than a directive, takes effect directly in every member state at once — there is no national transposition to wait for. It sets recyclability requirements for all packaging, restricts certain single-use formats in hospitality, and tightens what may be claimed on a pack. Individually wrapped items served in a café or restaurant sit squarely inside its scope.

Timeline

Environmental claims need evidence

Wording such as compostable, biodegradable or plastic-free is regulated, not decorative. A compostability claim should name the standard it is made under — EN 13432 for industrial composting — and be backed by documentation you can produce on request. Ask your supplier for the certificate rather than the adjective, and keep it with the order. This applies to printed claims on the product as much as to marketing material.

If you also sell into Turkey

Turkey has been preparing its own single-use plastics regulation, aligned with the EU directive and its Zero Waste programme. The draft restricts the same product groups and adds obligations for venues, including offering wet wipes only on request. Scope and dates may still change in the final text, so treat it as direction of travel rather than a fixed deadline. Our Turkish-language regulation page follows that process in detail.