1. The two targets and who they bind
The 2025 target is PET-specific: 25% recycled content in single-use PET beverage bottles. The 2030 target is broader — 30% recycled plastic in single-use plastic beverage bottles regardless of the resin. Reporting is done at Member State level as an average, but producers carry the evidentiary burden that feeds those figures.
- 2025: 25%, PET bottles only
- 2030: 30%, all single-use plastic beverage bottles
- PPWR mirrors the 30% figure in its bottle category
2. What changed with the 2026 implementing decision
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1425 replaced the 2023 rules on how recycled content in bottles is calculated, verified and reported. The trend across both instruments is the same: less tolerance for estimates, more emphasis on verifiable data flowing from the recycler through the converter to the bottler.
If your systems were built for the 2023 decision, the reporting formats and verification expectations are the part to re-check.
- Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1425 of 30 June 2026
- Repeals Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2683
- Verification and reporting formats are the practical change
3. Where PolyAl does and does not apply
PolyAl is not a bottle resin. It is a recycled polyolefin for rigid, non-food-contact applications, so it plays no part in the bottle itself. Where it does help a beverage producer is everything around the bottle: crates, trays, transport packaging, dunnage, bins and back-of-house equipment — all in the PPWR non-contact-sensitive bracket at 35% by 2030 and 65% by 2040.
Beverage groups that treat recycled content as a portfolio problem rather than a bottle problem hit their overall targets far more cheaply.
- Crates, trays and returnable transport packaging
- Bins, buckets and back-of-house rigid parts
- Pallet and dunnage components with declared recycled content
- Post-consumer, produced following UNE 53925:2026, EUR.1 EU origin
4. The carton connection
Beverage cartons are the other half of this story: their fibre is recycled into new paper, and their polyethylene-aluminium fraction becomes PolyAl. A beverage producer that uses cartons is already feeding this stream — buying PolyAl back for its crates and transport packaging closes a loop that is easy to communicate and easy to substantiate.
This page is general information about EU legislation, not legal advice. Check the consolidated text of each instrument and your national transposition before you rely on a figure.
Bottle targets at a glance
| 2025 | 25% recycled content — PET single-use beverage bottles |
|---|---|
| 2030 | 30% recycled content — all single-use plastic beverage bottles |
| Legal basis | Directive (EU) 2019/904, Article 6(5) |
| Calculation rules | Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1425 (repealed 2023/2683) |
| Waste counted | Post-consumer |
| Surrounding packaging | PPWR non-contact-sensitive: 35% (2030) → 65% (2040) |