Why material data is becoming a success factor
Early August is the moment of the countdown for many in the packaging industry: in just a few days, the PPWR becomes effective, and the question is no longer whether companies need a declaration of conformity, but whether it will be ready in time.
For the current issue of Flexpack News, Julian Thielen traveled to Cologne – right on the Rhine, just a few hundred meters from Interzero’s offices. In conversation with Dominik Lichtenthäler, the topics range from freshly announced news from the German Packaging Award, to a study that challenges German recycling logic, to the pitfalls of wax coatings – and the question of how ready the industry really is, one week before PPWR Day.
Key takeaways
- German Packaging Award 2026: around 220 entries, 36 winners – including a push-pull closure made from 100% PCR material.
- ProPakMa study challenges rigid thresholds such as Germany’s 95/5 rule – other EU countries manage with significantly lower paper content requirements.
- 8 years of “Made for Recycling”: wax coatings pass CEPI test methods, but in practice cause sticky contamination and web breaks.
- Digital Product Passport: the EU has launched an official register with a test environment – but data sharing remains a matter of trust for many companies.
- PPWR Day on August 12, 2026: according to Interzero, many companies are, based on their conversations, still far from having their declaration of conformity ready.
German Packaging Award: A look behind the scenes of the jury
In early July, Dominik Lichtenthäler served as one of 22 jurors at the German Packaging Award – two full days in which roughly 220 entries were reviewed, discussed, and at times debated “very passionately.” In the end, 36 winners were selected, with the announcement happening to fall on the very day the podcast episode was recorded.
As a particularly innovative example, Dominik highlights a push-pull closure for dish soap bottles from Werner & Mertz and Aptar Closures: made from 100% PCR material sourced from Germany’s yellow bag system, produced using a new in-mould assembly process – from the jury’s perspective, a genuine technical innovation.
His tip for future entrants: clarity over completeness. Anyone entering should explain, compactly and precisely, what the actual innovation is and which problem it solves – that’s what allows the jury to grasp the value quickly.
Dominik wasn’t assigned to just one category, but to all the sustainability categories at once: recycled content, recyclability, and material reduction.
Recycled content in flexpack: Few entries, high complexity
In the recycled-content category for flexible packaging, there were only two entries this year – both with a PCR content of 30 to 35%, sourced from the yellow bag system, and both PE-based. One application was for dry detergent, the other for a liquid product from the sensitive food/baby-food space – applications that are far from trivial to implement given strict barrier and purity requirements.
The low number of entries points to something the conversation keeps coming back to: recycled content in demanding flexpack applications remains technically challenging – progress is being made, but it’s still the exception rather than the rule.
Recyclability of paper: Why rigid thresholds miss the point
A second major topic of the episode centers on a recent study by ProPakMa. Its central claim: whether a package belongs in the paper bin, the yellow bag, or general waste shouldn’t be decided by a simple non-paper-content threshold, but by actual recyclability criteria – for instance, via CEPI test methods.
The background is more complex than it first appears: in Germany, paper is legally required to be collected and recycled separately, financed through waste fees. Packaging, by contrast, runs through the privately organized dual systems and the yellow bag. When dual systems reach an agreement with public waste management operators, fiber-based packaging can also be disposed of via the blue bin – with the advantage that high-quality recycling often only becomes possible this way.
Crucially: every municipality decides for itself which paper packaging it will accept in the blue bin. The widely cited German 95/5 rule has no explicit legal basis in the German Packaging Act – other countries operate with quite different ratios: 80/20 is common, while Spain, Portugal, and France accept ratios of up to 50/50.
Eight years of “Made for Recycling”: The reality of coatings
After eight years of testing experience with “Made for Recycling,” Interzero has seen practically every type of coating: extrusion coating, laminates, dispersion coating, wax coating, metallization. Each variant has its own weak points – extrusion coatings can lead to high reject rates, dispersion coatings can negatively affect process water, and metallization remains visible in recycled paper.
The case of wax coatings is particularly telling: they can score well under CEPI test methods, but in practice the wax stays behind in the process water and leads to sticky contamination. In the worst case, this results in web breaks on the paper machine – which, given the scale of modern equipment, take considerable effort to restart.
“Bad.” – Dominik Lichtenthäler’s assessment of the current state of recycling for paper packaging from mixed waste
That short answer to the question about the quality of paper, board, and carton (PPK) from LVP sorting captures a structural problem in a nutshell: if the material doesn’t move quickly from collection point onward – especially at temperatures above 30°C – it starts to degrade, and after two weeks there’s barely a usable fiber left. As a result, the number of recyclers still willing to take the material keeps shrinking. The clear message from the conversation: the blue bin must not become “the new yellow bin.”
Digital Product Passport: Between data needs and confidentiality
The EU has launched an official register for the Digital Product Passport, along with a test environment. Contrary to what one might expect, this isn’t a portal for entering product data directly – the data itself is meant to remain decentralized, held by providers that companies can choose freely. The test environment mainly allows early participants to align their own technology with it.
From a recycler’s perspective, the most valuable information would be detailed data on material composition, adhesive type, and coating type, to better tailor sorting and recycling processes – right down to whether a package was in contact with food, which in turn could determine its suitability for mechanical food-to-food recycling.
The problem: much of this information is considered highly sensitive by manufacturers, especially where it could reveal details of a formulation. Dominik draws a parallel to current practice around conformity requests along the supply chain: there, too, the response is often that certain information simply won’t be shared – even though a legal duty to disclose exists. The exact level of detail required isn’t precisely defined by law, but it must be sufficient for the producer to actually demonstrate the packaging’s conformity.
The recommendation from the conversation: companies should, going forward, specify exactly what information suppliers must provide in their contracts – to avoid this kind of disagreement in the first place.
Check for Recycling: Interzero’s tool for the declaration of conformity
Fitting the topic, Interzero has further developed its “Check for Recycling” tool for creating declarations of conformity. In ongoing customer onboarding, the range is enormous: some companies already have structures in place within existing systems, while others – particularly many SMEs – are starting from zero, without the necessary data, structures, or capacity.
The interdisciplinary nature of these projects stands out: onboarding sessions typically bring together colleagues from IT, quality management, and procurement. Companies that already have a system in place – an ERP with packaging data stored, for example – mainly need to solve how to connect it to new requirements. Those starting from zero can, on the plus side, structure their data cleanly from the very beginning.
At the InnoPouch Conference in Barcelona, Interzero isn’t just a supporter but is also presenting two talks: Alexandre Zuber, Product Owner for Check for Recycling, will introduce the tool and its underlying “Guided Flow” for creating declarations of conformity. Albin Kaelin, an expert from the Cradle to Cradle community, will speak on the Digital Product Passport.
Conclusion: Countdown to PPWR Day
This episode makes one thing clear: the flexpack industry isn’t facing a single problem, but several construction sites running in parallel.
- The German Packaging Award shows that technical innovation in recycled content is possible – but still the exception.
- Rigid thresholds like the 95/5 rule are increasingly being questioned – recyclability needs more differentiated criteria.
- Practical experience with coatings shows: what tests well in the lab can become a problem on the production line.
- The Digital Product Passport will only work if confidentiality and disclosure obligations are brought into balance.
- And on PPWR Day itself: many companies, according to Interzero, are still not as far along as they need to be.
Anyone who isn’t ready yet should get support now. On August 6 – the last session before PPWR Day – Interzero is offering a free introductory session on Check for Recycling.
Frequently asked questions about this episode
How many entries were submitted to the German Packaging Award 2026?
Around 220 entries were reviewed by 22 jurors over two days, resulting in 36 winners.
Why are wax coatings problematic for paper recycling?
Wax coatings can pass CEPI test methods, but in practice they remain in the paper machine’s process water. This leads to sticky contamination and, in the worst case, web breaks.
What does Germany’s 95/5 rule regulate – and is it legally mandated?
The 95/5 rule describes the maximum allowed non-paper content for the paper bin, but has no explicit legal basis in the German Packaging Act. Other EU countries apply significantly different ratios, in some cases up to 50/50.
What is the Digital Product Passport?
An EU-driven system intended to make product data centrally accessible along the supply chain. The data itself remains decentralized, held by providers companies can choose freely – the EU has launched a register with a test environment to support this.
When does the PPWR take effect?
The PPWR becomes effective on August 12, 2026. According to Interzero, many companies still won’t have their declaration of conformity ready by that date.
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