Is pallet stretch film being banned in the EU? The reuse rules for wrap and straps

Stretch film is the cheapest way I know to hold a pallet together. So when Europe's packaging regulation put "pallet wrappings or straps" into a reuse target, it was easy to read that as the beginning of the end for film.

It is not a ban.

Checked against official sources on 28 October 2026.

My short answer: the EU has not banned pallet stretch film or strapping. Nothing in the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) bans them in 2027 or in 2030. From 1 January 2030, businesses that use transport packaging inside the EU must make at least 40% of it reusable. That 40% is counted across all their transport formats together, and wrap and straps are part of the count. A 2026 Commission decision took wrap and straps out of the stricter 100% rule. For imports, the targets start at the first warehouse in the EU. In 2027 the Commission writes the counting rules. So 2027 is the year to collect your own numbers.

I should say where I stand. We make blown polyethylene film at Jagannath Polymers in Jaipur, and we export to more than 20 countries. Rules on film and pallets touch our business twice. I have quoted the legal text wherever a word matters, so you can check me.

Is stretch film banned under the PPWR?

No. The PPWR's list of restricted formats is Annex V of Regulation (EU) 2025/40, and those restrictions apply from 1 January 2030 (Article 25).

The plastic film Annex V does restrict is a different product. Point 1 covers single-use plastic grouped packaging used at the point of sale to bundle bottles, cans, tins, pots, tubs and packets, "designed as convenience packaging to enable or encourage consumers to purchase more than one product". The examples given are "collation films, shrink wrap". The same point excludes grouped packaging that is needed to make handling easier.

That is the shrink film round a six-pack on a shop shelf. It is not the film round a pallet on a truck.

Pallet wrap is handled in two other places: the reuse targets below, and the recycled-content targets for plastic packaging. The second one has its own guide, on the 35% recycled-content rule for stretch film from 2030.

What does the 40% reuse target say?

Article 29(1) is the core text. It lists the formats covered: pallets, foldable plastic boxes, boxes, trays, plastic crates, intermediate bulk containers, pails, drums and canisters, "including flexible formats or pallet wrappings or straps". From 1 January 2030, operators that use them inside the EU "shall ensure that at least 40 % of such packaging in total is reusable packaging within a re-use system."

It is a long sentence, so it helps to take it apart. Three phrases decide how it works.

1. "In total". The 40% is one figure across all those formats, not 40% of each. In the 2026 exemption decision (recital 1), the Commission explains that operators "can compensate a used format with a low re-use rate with one that has a high re-use rate".
2. "Within a re-use system". A reusable item on its own is not enough. Article 3 defines a re-use system as the organisational, technical or financial arrangements that make reuse happen, such as a deposit and return scheme.
3. "Economic operators that use". The target sits with the user. The Commission's guidance notice C/2026/3084, published on 10 June 2026, says in section 20 that the user is the operator that places a product on the EU market in that transport packaging, as manufacturer, importer or distributor.

From 1 January 2040, the same operators "shall endeavour" to reach 70%. That is softer wording than the 2030 target.

The 100% rule, and the exemption for wrap and straps

Two stricter rules sit under the 40%.

1. Article 29(2): transport packaging moving between a company's own sites, or to its linked or partner enterprises, must be reusable within a re-use system. That is 100%.
2. Article 29(3): transport packaging used to deliver products to another business in the same EU country must also be 100% reusable.

Read on its own, that would have forced a German manufacturer shipping pallets to a German retailer to use only reusable wrap and straps from 2030.

Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2026/429 removed that. It was adopted on 25 February 2026, published in the Official Journal on 6 May 2026 and entered into force 20 days later. Its one operative article exempts operators that use pallet wrappings or straps "for stabilisation and protection of products put on pallets during transport" from the 100% requirements of Article 29(2) and (3).

The recitals give the reason. Reusable wraps and straps are on sale and already used for some goods. But forcing them in every case would need new packaging lines and automated solutions that are "not sufficiently developed yet".

One point is often misreported. Article 29(1) is not a cross-border rule. It is the general target for all transport packaging used inside the EU, and the 2026 decision did not touch it. Wrap and straps still count in the 40%.

Imports: the targets start at the first EU warehouse

This is the part that matters most to an exporter.

The guidance notice (section 19) says the transport reuse targets apply only "within the territory of the Union", so both operators must be in the EU. For goods from outside the EU, the targets apply from import and placing on the market, which "typically takes place in the first warehouse in the EU". From there, they run until the final destination in the EU.

Two more lines in that section settle most exporters' worries.

1. A consignment that arrives at the first warehouse and is destined for a single final destination does not have to be unpacked and repacked into reusable packaging.
2. Distribution centres and logistics hubs do not count as a final destination.

So a pallet we wrap in Jaipur and ship to one customer's factory in Europe does not become a reuse problem at the port. Now suppose the same pallet goes to a distribution centre. The centre breaks it down and sends cartons onwards. The onward transport packaging then falls in that operator's 40%, not in ours.

Which exemptions are worth knowing?

Countries can also go further. Article 29(15) lets a Member State set higher targets where it needs them for its waste-prevention goals. France already has its own reuse trajectory with a 2027 milestone, covered in France's 10% reusable packaging target for 2027.

What actually happens in 2027?

Nothing about your pallets changes on 1 January 2027. What changes is the rulebook for counting.

1. By 12 February 2027, the Commission must adopt a delegated act setting a minimum number of rotations for the reusable packaging formats used most (Article 11(2)). This will decide what "reusable" means in practice for a plastic pallet, a crate or a reusable wrap.
2. By 12 February 2027, it must also set up a European observatory on re-use (Article 31(7)).
3. By 30 June 2027, it must adopt the implementing act with the method for calculating the reuse targets (Article 30(3)). The Commission's PPWR FAQ (second edition, August 2026) says wraps and straps are different formats but "may be part of the same transport unit" for the calculation, and that "transport unit" may be defined in this act.
4. Proof of meeting the targets is required from 1 January 2030, or 18 months after the calculation act enters into force, whichever is later (Article 30(4)). The first reporting year is 2030, and each report is due within six months of the year end (Article 31).

When I checked the Commission's consultation portal on 28 October 2026, I could not find a published draft of either the rotations act or the calculation act. These are legal deadlines, and the Commission has already missed one PPWR deadline (the labelling act due in August 2026). So watch for them, but do not build a plan that depends on them arriving on time.

Where single-use film still makes sense

My view, as a film maker: for a pallet that travels once from India to a European customer, single-use stretch film is still the practical choice under these rules. I am not saying that to protect our sales. I am saying it because the rules themselves leave that door open. The job for 2027 is to use less film and to know exactly how much you use.

A reusable wrap needs someone to take it off with care, fold it, store it and send it back. Between regular partners inside one country, that loop can work. Across an ocean, the trip back is the hard part.

Where film stays, weight is what you control. My advice to buyers is simple. Less film, stretched properly, makes every later rule easier, whether that rule is about reuse, recycled content or fees.

What to do in 2027

1. List every transport packaging format you use for EU-bound goods: pallets, wrap, straps, corner boards, crates, intermediate bulk containers. Mark the cardboard ones, because those are exempt.
2. Weigh the wrap and straps per pallet. Our guide to stretch film, pre-stretch and film per pallet shows the method.
3. Ask each EU buyer where your pallets end up: their own factory (a single final destination) or a distribution centre that splits them.
4. For buyers who split loads, ask whether they plan to meet the 40% with pallet pools or returnable crates. If they do, your pallet size and type may need to fit their pool.
5. For repeat lanes inside Europe, for example to your own EU warehouse, price a reusable option now rather than in a hurry in 2029.
6. Keep the EU declaration of conformity for each wrap and strap you buy. The Commission's FAQ says there is no exemption for transport packaging, and that pallets, wrappings and straps each need their own assessment and declaration.
7. Put 12 February and 30 June 2027 in the calendar, and read the two acts when they appear.

If you tell us your pallet size, load weight and export lanes through our contact page, we will help you work out the grams of film each pallet really needs, before the counting rules arrive.

This article is general information, not legal advice. For a decision on a specific supply chain, please check with a lawyer who works on EU packaging law.