SPI Methodology: How SPI Sources, Checks, Labels and Corrects Packaging Data

Principles

Four principles apply to every SPI dataset and deliverable.

1. Every fact names its source. Each row records the original source, a short quote from it and the date the SPI team consulted it. A reader should be able to reach the law, company report or fee table behind any figure in one click.
2. Fact, estimate and interpretation are kept apart. Sourced facts, SPI estimates and SPI interpretation sit in separate fields. On pages, SPI’s own reading appears in SPI notes or in paragraphs that begin “SPI analysis”.
3. Gaps are stated, not filled. Where there is no reliable source, SPI says there is a gap. The calculator, for example, lists Germany and Ontario as not covered because neither publishes a public fee table.
4. The record decides the status. A rule is law when the official record says so, and a brand target is met when the company reports a result that meets it, not when either looks likely.

What counts as a source

Two fields in the SPI Buyers Database are SPI’s own assignment and are not separately sourced: a company’s headquarters country and its end-use categories (for example food, beverage or personal care). They are taken from the company’s website or filings and used to group companies, not as facts about obligations.

A rule’s official source is sometimes a summary page rather than the full legal text. The PPWR rules, for example, often cite the European Parliament Legislative Observatory summary of Regulation (EU) 2025/40. Where the summary and the article text could differ, the SPI rule note says which text was opened and what could not be confirmed.

How a tracker rule is built and checked

Every rule in the SPI Regulation Tracker goes through the same six steps.

What a “rule” is. A rule is one obligation, or a closely linked set of obligations, with its own dates. A large law can therefore produce several rows: the PPWR appears as separate EU rows for PFAS limits (PR-EU-002), the sorting label (PR-EU-003), 2030 and 2040 recycled content (PR-EU-004, PR-EU-005), reuse (PR-EU-006), deposit collection (PR-EU-007), format restrictions (PR-EU-008), empty space (PR-EU-009), recyclability (PR-EU-010) and waste reduction (PR-EU-011), because each starts on its own date.

Verified and Sourced. A rule marked Verified has been checked field by field by a second SPI team member. If any fact on a verified rule changes, the rule returns to Sourced until it is checked again, so the label always describes the current record.

The SPI note. Each rule has its own page with an SPI note in a fixed order: what the rule means in practice for manufacturers, converters and brand owners; who and what is in scope and out of scope, as far as the official source states; practical actions tied to the rule’s dates; related tracker rules; and a list of points where the public record is pending, contested or unconfirmed. The whole note is labelled SPI analysis.

How statuses are assigned

A status says where a rule stands in law on the date its source was consulted.

• In force: the obligation applies now.
• Adopted: the rule has passed into law, but its obligations start later or cannot yet be enforced. The PPWR format restrictions in Annex V, which apply from 1 January 2030, are adopted (PR-EU-008).
• Proposed: a formal proposal, bill or planned measure that is not yet law, such as the Environmental Omnibus proposal to suspend the PPWR authorised-representative obligation (PR-EU-012).
• Expired: repealed, or a target date that has passed. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive 94/62/EC, generally repealed on 12 August 2026, is expired (PR-EU-013).
• Withdrawn: a proposal or deadline taken off the table without replacement. When a withdrawn measure returns as a new proposal, it is recorded as proposed.

In force, adopted and expired rules are enacted; proposed rules are not. The tracker’s “enacted or proposed” filter uses this split, so a draft is never shown as law.

A status is a single label. A law can stand while its enforcement is blocked, or apply while its main funding duties start years later. California SB 343 restricts recyclability claims on products made after 4 October 2026, but a federal court has enjoined enforcement since 14 July 2026 (PR-US-011; CalRecycle, as given in the tracker, checked 13 October 2026). The rule note gives that detail, and the 13 October check moves the record to adopted for as long as the injunction stands.

Rule types. The tracker uses 11 types: EPR (25), ban (17), deposit return (7), design rule (6), recycled content (6), plan (4), tax (4), labelling (3), reuse (3), reporting (1) and other (3). Each rule takes the type of its main obligation. Where a rule could fit two types, the rule note says why one was chosen: Germany’s Single-Use Plastics Fund Act is typed EPR because it implements the EPR article of the Single-Use Plastics Directive, with the levy as its funding mechanism (PR-DE-002).

How the SPI Buyers Database assigns target statuses

Every target is recorded in the company’s own wording, with a quote, the source link and the date consulted. Where a company publishes a figure but not a verdict, the SPI team compares the figure with the pledge and says on the row that the status is SPI’s reading. Carrefour’s 2025 pledge to remove 20,000 tonnes of packaging since 2017 is one example: the company reports 22,873 tonnes removed, and the row says that “met” is SPI’s reading of that figure against the pledge (Carrefour 2025 Universal Registration Document, as given in the SPI Buyers Database).

Statuses are company-reported, and SPI does not audit the figures behind them. Results are often on different bases (one company reports recycled content across all packaging, another across plastic only, another per business unit), so the SPI Buyers Database shows each target’s scope next to its figure. Of the targets with a deadline of 2025 or earlier, 16 are reported met, 19 missed and 24 not yet reported (SPI Buyers Database, 13 October 2026).

The database holds no contacts, purchase volumes, supplier relationships or pack specifications. It is a register of public commitments, not a lead list.

How the SPI EPR & Plastic Tax Calculator handles rates

The calculator applies published fee tables and tax rates to the tonnages a user enters. Four rules govern it.

1. Rates are stored as published. Each row keeps the operator’s own unit. The only conversions are arithmetic within one currency: Citeo’s euro cents per kg are multiplied by 10 to give euros per tonne, Ecoembes’ euros per kg by 1,000, and Circular Action Alliance’s US cents per lb at 1 US cent per lb = USD 22.0462 per tonne.
2. No currency conversion. Rates are never converted between currencies, so results and comparisons are always shown in the scheme’s own currency.
3. Illustrative rates are flagged. The UK’s PackUK Year 2 (2026-27) fees are illustrative until confirmed: plastic is GBP 415, 455 or 545 per tonne depending on the recyclability rating (PR-GB-003; GOV.UK, as given in the tracker, checked 13 October 2026). Every UK fee row carries that flag.
4. Estimates, not bills. Results are estimates at published rates with the assumptions listed. Bonus and malus rules, such as Citeo’s eco-modulation, are listed where they apply but not automatically applied, and the figures a user enters are not stored.

The weekly source check

Rules, fees and company results change after a source is consulted. Each week the SPI team re-opens the sources behind the open points in the SPI rule notes: pending implementing acts, court cases, bills in committee, consultations and fee announcements. Changes go into the rule history and into that week’s tracker alerts, which send at most one e-mail a week and only in weeks when a rule in a chosen jurisdiction is added or changed.

Corrections

Errors are corrected in the open. The process is set out on the Corrections page.

• How to report. Write to sales@strategicpackaginginsights.com or use the contact form. Name the page or rule ID, say what is wrong, and if possible link the source that shows the correct information.
• What the SPI team does. A team member checks the report against the original source. If the row is wrong or out of date, it is corrected, the change is recorded in the row’s history with its date, and the corrected row goes through the same second-person check as a new one before it is marked Verified again. The SPI team replies to say what was changed, or why not.
• What SPI does not do. SPI does not delete a row’s history to hide a mistake, and does not change a sourced fact at the request of the company or body it describes unless the source supports the change.
• Consulting deliverables. If an error is found in delivered work, SPI tells the organisation that commissioned it and issues a corrected version.

The 13 October 2026 record check

On 13 October 2026 the SPI team re-read 56 tracker records against their official sources. The updates are of four kinds. Status: the first duties under Minnesota’s, Maryland’s and Washington’s packaging EPR laws already apply, so those records are being updated to in force (PR-US-006, PR-US-007, PR-US-008), and SB 343 to adopted while its enforcement is enjoined (PR-US-011). Dates: for example, the UK Plastic Packaging Tax record is being updated to note the changes HMRC announced for 1 April 2027 (PR-GB-001). Scope: for example, the PPWR reuse record is being narrowed to say the 40% target covers sales packaging used for transport, as Article 29 states (PR-EU-006). Removals: statements the official source did not support are being taken out, such as an unconfirmed plan due date in the California SB 54 record (PR-US-004). Points that could not be settled, such as the start rule for PPWR 2030 recycled content (PR-EU-004), stay open in the rule notes for the weekly source check.

Insights and SPI Consulting

Insights articles are built on the tracker, database and calculator rows, plus official texts opened and dated for the piece. Each figure is re-checked against the tracker on the day of publication, interpretation is labelled SPI analysis, and each article lists its sources with dates.

SPI Consulting assignments follow six steps: scope, source plan, evidence, analysis, a check by a second SPI team member, and delivery. Every external fact keeps its source, every assumption is listed, and forecasts are presented as scenarios with their drivers and ranges, never as a single number. What an organisation shares with SPI is used for that assignment only. Recyclability reviews are desk reviews. To scope a project, use the enquiry form; prices are available on request.

Limitations

• Not legal advice. SPI summarises official texts and labels its own reading. Confirm obligations against the linked legal text and with qualified counsel or your compliance scheme.
• Coverage is not complete for any jurisdiction. The tracker records rules made by public authorities; guidance and local rules may not be listed, and France’s packaging EPR scheme is not yet a tracker row although Citeo’s 2026 fees are in the calculator.
• Sources move. Rates, dates and company results can change after a source was consulted; the consulted date on each row says how current it is.
• Summary sources. Some rules rely on an official summary page where the full article text could not be loaded; the rule note says so.
• Company-reported data. Buyer target statuses depend on what each company publishes and on its own definitions and baselines, which SPI does not audit.
• Headline values. Where a rule has several rates or targets, the value field holds one (for example 30% under PR-EU-004) and the summary gives the rest.
• Fee gaps. Germany and Ontario are not in the calculator because neither publishes a public fee table, and UK PackUK fees are illustrative until confirmed.

Where the method fits: Discover, Understand, Evaluate, Decide, Implement

The same method runs through every stage of the SPI model. Discover uses the SPI Buyers Database; Understand the SPI Regulation Tracker; Evaluate the SPI EPR & Plastic Tax Calculator; Decide and Implement are where SPI Consulting applies the rows to one organisation’s materials and markets, starting with Packaging Regulatory Intelligence.

How to cite SPI data

Rows can be quoted in reports and publications if they are cited as “Strategic Packaging Insights, name of the tracker, date accessed”. Bulk republishing, resale or automated access at scale needs a written licence (Data Licensing). Source texts quoted on rows remain the property of their publishers.