Packaging deadlines from 2026 to 2030 cluster in 2026 and on 1 January 2030

How the calendar was built

The SPI Regulation Tracker holds 79 packaging rules in 25 jurisdictions, each with its official source, status, dates and an SPI rule note. Every note lists what to do and by when, with dates taken from the official source, and the SPI rule analysis of 14 October 2026 added a history and dated obligations for every rule. This calendar combines two kinds of date:

• Rule start dates: the effective date on each tracker record, where it falls between 1 January 2026 and 31 December 2030. There are 21.
• Staged steps: dated obligations inside a rule, such as a recycled-content level that rises, a registration or plan deadline or the end of an exemption. There are 49: 39 from the rule notes and 10 more from the 14 October rule analysis, among them California’s 10% source reduction step in 2027, Maryland’s sales prohibition date of 29 October 2028 and Minnesota’s written agreement requirement from 1 January 2029.

Recurring annual deadlines, such as India’s 30 June annual return (PR-IN-001), Ontario’s 31 May supply report (PR-CA-003), Viet Nam’s 1 April plan registration (PR-VN-001) and California’s 1 March recycled-content report (PR-US-009), are not repeated for every year. They appear in the market table in Exhibit 9.

Rules without a fixed date in the range are left out of the timeline and covered in the section on dates that may move: Maine’s packaging EPR (PR-US-001), New Zealand’s stage 3 phase-out (PR-NZ-002) and Australia’s packaging EPR bill (PR-AU-003).

Counts by year and type

On rule start dates alone (Exhibit 2), the calendar looks front-loaded and then empty: 12 rules start in 2026, two in 2027, one each in 2028 and 2029 and five in 2030. The 2026 group mixes the EU’s general application of the PPWR on 12 August 2026 (PR-EU-001) and its PFAS limits for food-contact packaging (PR-EU-002), Germany’s VerpackDG (PR-DE-001), California’s SB 54 permanent regulations from 1 May 2026 (PR-US-004), Viet Nam’s Decree 110/2026 from 25 May 2026 (PR-VN-001), India’s recycled-content and reuse rules of 31 March 2026 (PR-IN-002, PR-IN-003), Portugal’s Volta deposit system from 10 April 2026 (PR-PT-001), Ontario’s full producer responsibility from 1 January 2026 (PR-CA-003), Dubai’s final single-use phase (PR-AE-001), PackUK’s year 2 fee year (PR-GB-003) and California’s SB 343 labelling date of 4 October 2026 (PR-US-011).

2026: registration, data and fees

Twenty of the 25 milestones in 2026 had passed by 14 October 2026. They were mostly about joining a scheme and reporting. In Washington, producers had to appoint a producer responsibility organisation (PRO) by 1 January 2026 and be members of a registered PRO by 1 July 2026 (PR-US-008). California’s SB 54 producers had until 1 June 2026 to join Circular Action Alliance (CAA), register as an independent producer or apply for the small producer exemption (PR-US-004). Colorado dues became payable from January 2026 (PR-US-003). Maryland’s PRO filed its first annual registration from 1 July 2026 (PR-US-007). In the UK, large producers’ data for January to June 2026 was due by 1 October 2026 (PR-GB-002).

California’s SB 343 date of 4 October 2026 sits on the calendar with a caveat: on 14 July 2026 the US District Court for the Southern District of California issued a preliminary injunction that blocks enforcement of SB 343, while CalRecycle’s study duties continue (PR-US-011). The record’s status is being updated in the 13 October check.

Five 2026 milestones are still ahead: PackUK’s year 2 notice of liability by the end of November (PR-GB-003); the Welsh ban on wet wipes containing plastic on 18 December (PR-GB-007); Oregon’s first life cycle impact disclosure by the 25 largest producers on 31 December (PR-US-002); 60% recovery of the plastic packaging footprint by large enterprises in the Philippines by 31 December, rising to 70% at the end of 2027 and 80% from the end of 2028 (PR-PH-001); and Minnesota’s first full needs assessment by 31 December (PR-US-006).

2027 to 2029: deposits, plans and market access

The pivotal date in this stretch is 1 October 2027, when drinks deposit return schemes start in England and Northern Ireland (PR-GB-004) and in Scotland (PR-GB-005). Producers register with the scheme administrator and print the scheme logo and return code. Scotland’s reset scheme removes glass and moves the minimum container size to 150 ml, aligning it with England and Northern Ireland (SSI 2025/188). Both schemes carry return targets of 70% for 2028, 80% for 2029 and 90% from 2030 (SI 2025/67 regulation 81; SSI 2025/188 Schedule 3).

Elsewhere, 2027 to 2029 is about plans and money in North America and rising percentages in Asia:

• 1 January 2027: Quebec’s material recovery targets start (PR-CA-006), and Austria’s central body must ensure a 90% collection rate for single-use drinks containers (PR-AT-001).
• End of 2027: Washington’s full statewide needs assessment is due (PR-US-008), and in Germany the producer transition for ZSVR authorisation ends (PR-DE-001).
• 1 January 2028: Member States that want to avoid a mandatory deposit system must notify the Commission, having reached at least 80% separate collection for packaging placed on the market in 2026 (PPWR Article 50(5), PR-EU-007).
• 2028-29: India’s Category I rigid plastic packaging must contain 60% recycled plastic, and large drinking-water containers reach 85% reuse (PR-IN-002, PR-IN-003, G.S.R. 237(E)).
• 1 July 2028: British Columbia’s exemption for PVC film wrap ends (PR-CA-005).
• 12 August 2028: the PPWR harmonised material-composition sorting label is due; its design depends on a Commission implementing act still in preparation in October 2026 (PR-EU-003).
• 1 October 2028: Washington’s PRO plan is due, and Minnesota’s first stewardship plan (PR-US-008, PR-US-006).
• 29 October 2028: Maryland’s guide gives this as the earliest date from which a producer may not sell covered materials without an approved plan, or a later date the department identifies (MDE compliance guide, September 2026, PR-US-007).
• 1 January 2029: EU Member States must separately collect at least 90% by weight of single-use plastic and metal drinks containers up to three litres (PR-EU-007), and in Minnesota no producer may introduce covered materials without a written agreement under an approved plan (PR-US-006).
• February 2029: Minnesota’s producer-funded reimbursement starts at 50%, rising to 75% in 2030 and at least 90% in 2031 (PR-US-006).

One proposed measure sits in the range: a rise in the EU plastic own resource from EUR 0.80 to EUR 1 per kg of non-recycled plastic packaging waste from 2028, which Member States would pay (COM(2025) 574, PR-EU-018). It is shown as proposed and may change.

1 January 2030: eight obligations on one day

In 2030 the EU has seven milestones, five of them on 1 January. From that day packaging must be recyclable (PR-EU-010), single-use plastic beverage bottles must contain 30% recycled content under the PPWR (PR-EU-004), reuse targets of 40% for transport packaging and 10% for grouped packaging apply (PR-EU-006), empty space in grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging is capped at 50% (PR-EU-009), and the Annex V format restrictions start (PR-EU-008). Also in 2030, the Single-Use Plastics Directive requires single-use plastic beverage bottles to contain at least 30% recycled plastic as a Member State average (PR-EU-016), and Member States are to cut packaging waste per person by 5% against 2018 (PR-EU-011). The PPWR 2030 format restrictions article covers Annex V in detail.

The same day, California’s plastic beverage containers carrying the California Redemption Value must reach a 50% annual average of postconsumer recycled plastic, up from 25% since 1 January 2025, with shortfalls penalised at USD 0.20 per pound (PR-US-009, CalRecycle). Quebec’s local reclamation targets start (PR-CA-006), and Indonesia’s roadmap lists phase-outs from 1 January 2030 including plastic straws, foam food containers, single-use plastic bags and flexible PP sachets under 50 ml or 50 g (PR-ID-001).

Later in 2030, New Jersey’s plastic beverage containers step up to 25% postconsumer content and rigid plastic containers to 30% (PR-US-010, NJDEP). Spain’s 20% reusable commercial and industrial packaging target applies (PR-ES-002). British Columbia’s foam meat and seafood tray exemption ends on 1 July 2030 (PR-CA-005), and Colombia’s second wave of single-use plastic prohibitions applies in July 2030, alongside Article 17 recycled-content levels of 35% for PET bottles of drinks other than water and 90% for drinking-water PET bottles (Ley 2232 de 2022, PR-CO-002).

How firm is each date? The SPI date-firmness ladder

A date in a statute and a date that waits on someone else’s decision are not the same planning input. SPI therefore graded all 70 milestones on a four-step ladder, using only what the official texts and the SPI rule analysis say about each date (Exhibit 6).

• Fixed in the text: the date is written into an act in force or adopted, and nothing further is needed for it to apply.
• Waits on an EU method: the date is in the PPWR, but the method, criteria or guidance that defines compliance was not adopted on 14 October 2026.
• Waits on a plan, approval or administrator: the date depends on an administrator’s timetable, an approved plan or an agency’s discretion, as with PackUK’s notice of liability, Maryland’s sales prohibition “or by a later date”, Minnesota’s written agreement requirement and Viet Nam’s discretionary rate rises.
• Contested, proposed or open to review: the date is blocked by a court, sits in a proposal, or faces a legislative checkpoint, as with SB 343, the EU own resource increase and Washington’s March 2029 restriction, which follows a 2029 legislative session that may amend the chapter (RCW 70A.208.010).

What waits on the European Commission

Several EU dates depend on Commission acts that set the method before the obligation applies. The Commission’s own implementation timeline lists them (Exhibit 7).

Scenarios: when the movable 2030 dates could apply

Two of the movable dates have a rule in the text that sets how far they can slip. The Commission’s guidance says PPWR Article 6(2)(a), the design-for-recycling test behind recyclability, applies “from 1 January 2030 or 24 months from the date of entry into force” of the Article 6(4) delegated act, whichever is later (Commission Notice C/2026/3084, section 6, consulted 14 October 2026). In Washington, plan implementation starts on 1 January 2030 or six months after plan approval, whichever is later, under RCW 70A.208.040(3)(d) as cited in the SPI rule note (PR-US-008). Exhibit 8 shows what each would mean under three assumptions.

SPI calculation: EU: on time, 1 January 2028 plus 24 months is 1 January 2030, equal to the floor, so the floor applies. Six months late, 1 July 2028 plus 24 months is 1 July 2030. Twelve months late, 1 January 2029 plus 24 months is 1 January 2031. Washington: approval on 1 July 2029 plus six months is 1 January 2030; on 1 January 2030, it is 1 July 2030; on 1 July 2030, it is 1 January 2031.

The scenarios cut both ways. A late act gives more time to redesign, but it also compresses the window between knowing the criteria and having to meet them to exactly 24 months, which is the same lead time the on-time case gives. Under every scenario, a pack that fails the criteria has two years at most from the day they are known. The Article 6(1) duty that all packaging placed on the market shall be recyclable has applied since 12 August 2026, according to the same guidance.

What starts in your market

The table lists, for each market with a dated milestone, what has already applied in 2026, the next dated step and later steps to 2030 (Exhibit 9). EU-level dates apply in every Member State in addition to the national rows.

Dates that may move

The calendar shows dates as the official sources give them on 14 October 2026. Exhibit 6 grades them; this section explains the main triggers.

• Litigation: California’s SB 343 is enjoined, and CalRecycle states the 4 October 2026 date “may be impacted by ongoing litigation” (PR-US-011).
• Approval-dependent starts: Washington’s plan implementation (Exhibit 8), Maryland’s sales prohibition “or by a later date” and Minnesota’s written agreement requirement all depend on plans being approved (PR-US-008, PR-US-007, PR-US-006).
• Commission acts: the PPWR sorting label design and the 2030 methods depend on acts not yet adopted (PR-EU-003, PR-EU-004, PR-EU-010).
• Proposals: the EU own resource increase (PR-EU-018) and the Environmental Omnibus suspension of the PPWR authorised-representative duty (PR-EU-012) are proposed. The Omnibus file passed the Parliament’s environment committee on 5 October 2026, with a report tabled on 9 October and an indicative plenary sitting on 19 October 2026 (Legislative Observatory, as given in the SPI rule analysis). Australia’s packaging EPR bill has not passed (PR-AU-003).
• No date at all: Maine’s packaging EPR has no live producer deadlines, and New Zealand’s stage 3 phase-out has no date (PR-NZ-002).

The tracker statuses of three US EPR rules and of SB 343 are being updated in the 13 October check. In the tracker today, 60 rules are in force, 13 adopted and 4 proposed. Every tracker record carries the Sourced label.

Who owns each 2030 date

The 2030 obligations land on different parts of a business. Exhibit 11 maps each to the function that usually holds the work, so a calendar becomes a set of owners.