How the Barometer is built.

An item, irrespective of the materials from which it is made, intended to be used by an economic operator for the containment, protection, handling, delivery or presentation of products to another economic operator or to an end user. This includes items designed to be filled at the point of sale to dispense a product – also referred to as "service packaging" – and single-serve tea, coffee or beverage units used and disposed of together with the product.

A material consisting of a polymer within the meaning of Article 3, point (5), of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, to which additives or other substances may have been added, and which is capable of functioning as a main structural component of packaging – with the exception of natural polymers that have not been chemically modified.

Percentage of packaging returned to the starting point at the end of a use cycle. A key indicator with major impact on the economics of reusable packaging, as it determines the number of reusable containers that need to be re-purchased. A return rate above 95% should generally be pursued to make a system economically feasible for a system provider.

Packaging placed on the market is considered reusable where it has been conceived, designed and placed on the market with the objective of being reused multiple times; can accomplish as many rotations as possible under normally predictable conditions of use; fulfils applicable health, safety and hygiene requirements; can be emptied or unloaded without damage that would prevent further reuse; can be reconditioned per Annex VI, Part B while maintaining its function; allows for affixing labels and safety/traceability information; and fulfils the recyclability requirements of Article 6 so that it can still be recycled at end of life.

Any operation by which reusable packaging is used again multiple times for the same purpose for which it was conceived.

The organisational, technical or financial arrangements, together with incentives, that allow reuse either in a closed-loop or open-loop system – such as a deposit and return system that ensures packaging is collected for reuse.

The full cycle a reusable packaging item accomplishes, from being placed on the market together with the product it contains, protects, handles, delivers or presents, to the moment it is ready to be reused with another product. Also referred to as a "reuse cycle".

Packaging which is not reusable packaging.

A technical specification, adopted by a recognised standardisation body, for repeated or continuous application, with which compliance is not compulsory: an international standard, a European standard, a harmonised standard (adopted at the Commission's request for Union harmonisation legislation), or a national standard.

Sales (primary) packaging intended to constitute a sales unit for the end-user, including bottles used for containing and selling beverages.

Packaging designed to group or transport products, such as rigid boxes or pallet-containers – classified as transport (tertiary) packaging under the PPWR.

Service packaging filled at the point of sale, such as takeaway cups provided with a drink to the consumer, and therefore considered packaging under the Regulation.

Packaging used for the delivery of products sold online or through other distance sales channels to the final user – generally considered as transport packaging.

Primary packaging intended to hold and protect food products, subject to design, recyclability and reuse requirements under the PPWR.

Sales packaging forming a sales unit for the consumer, typically used for food or cosmetic products – falling under the general definition of primary packaging.

Transport (tertiary) packaging used to facilitate the handling, storage and transport of grouped goods; explicitly mentioned in the PPWR as an example of reusable transport packaging.

Companies providing reusable packaging to businesses selling directly to consumers via online platforms or distance selling (online retailers, subscription box providers, marketplaces, direct-to-consumer brands).

Linked to:

• E-commerce packaging (PPWR) – transport packaging used to deliver products sold online or through other means of distance sales to the end user.

Companies providing reusable packaging to businesses offering food, drink, lodging, leisure or event-related services, serving consumers on-site or via takeaway/delivery.

Linked to:

• Take-away packaging (PPWR) – service packaging filled at attended points of sale with beverages or ready-prepared food for transportation and immediate consumption, typically consumed from the packaging.
• Hospitality packaging (New ERA) – reusable packaging for hotels, restaurants (incl. takeaway/delivery), bars, events, canteens, theme parks and recreational facilities.
• HORECA sector (PPWR) – Accommodation and Food Service Activities per NACE Rev. 2.

Companies providing reusable packaging to businesses selling packaged consumer goods directly to end users through physical points of sale (shops, supermarkets, pharmacies).

Linked to:

• Retail packaging (New ERA) – reusable packaging for the sale of packaged goods (food, beverages, cosmetics, home and personal care products) to consumers at the point of sale.

Companies active in logistics, warehousing and distribution – handling, protecting and delivering goods in bulk or grouped formats across the supply chain, both B2B and B2C, excluding large transport containers (e.g. shipping containers).

Linked to:

• Transport packaging (PPWR) – packaging conceived to facilitate the handling and transport of one or more sales units or a grouping of sales units, excluding road, rail, ship and air containers.

The organisational, operational, technical or financial framework – including any necessary infrastructure and incentives – that facilitates and supports the reuse of packaging, in open-loop or closed-loop systems. Pooling (Packaging from Nature) is the sharing of use of a group of standard packaging items, unit load devices or handling assets, facilitated by a third party (the pooler) that owns, manages, tracks, recovers and maintains the pool. "Closed pooling" refers to an arrangement whereby an independent lessor acquires, funds and maintains a pool of reusable assets – which remain its property – and rents them to users.

The economic operator that places packaged products on the market and is responsible for the associated packaging, including compliance with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligations and participation in packaging prevention, reuse and end-of-life systems.

Digital platforms and IT services enabling tracking, traceability, logistics coordination, and financial settlement of packaging flows across reuse and refill systems.

Reconditioning (PPWR) – any operation listed in Annex VI, Part B necessary to restore the functional state of reusable packaging, including cleaning, inspection, repair and replacement of parts. Packaging cleaning refers to the industrial or commercial processes that restore reusable packaging to hygienic and functional standards so it can safely re-enter a reuse cycle.

Physical manufacturing of reusable packaging and identification elements (labels, traceability) – including packaging manufacturers as defined under the PPWR, and label manufacturers producing physical or digital identification elements attached to packaging.

Operators that design, build and/or operate the physical and logistical infrastructure required for the collection, transport, return and aggregation of packaging in reuse systems.

Technical and strategic support provided to industry and public authorities for the implementation of reuse and refill systems.

A reuse system in which reusable packaging circulates under the management of a system operator or a cooperative group of participants, without change of ownership of the packaging [EU Regulation 2025/40, Annex VI]. The network is known and defined in advance, return flows are predictable, and loss rates are generally lower – the highest level of control among the three models. This is the only configuration for which the presence of a system operator is legally required.

A reuse system in which reusable packaging circulates among an undefined number of participants, and ownership may change at one or more points in the process [EU Regulation 2025/40, Annex VI]. A central operator (often a pooler) manages reverse logistics – collection, repair, cleaning, redistribution – at scale, without controlling a closed network of participants. This is the typical model for shared pooling systems.

Also referred to as a "fungible open system", this model has no central operator. It relies on asset standardisation and an active secondary market: independent refurbishers collect, inspect, repair and reintroduce packaging into circulation without any single entity overseeing the whole system.

The point at which the product reaches the person who consumes it. The PPWR calls this actor the final distributor: the natural or legal person in the supply chain that delivers packaged products, including through reuse, or products that can be purchased through refill, to the end user. In bulk retail this is the shop where the customer fills their own container, and the obligation to operate refill stations falls on this actor.

Selling to the end user at a distance rather than across a counter. The PPWR treats e-commerce as a sales channel and not a packaging category of its own: what it defines is e-commerce packaging, the transport packaging used to deliver a product bought online or through other distance sales. For a bulk operator, this is the hardest role to fill without packaging, since the container has to travel.

An operator that processes raw products into the goods sold in bulk. EU food-hygiene law defines processing as any action that substantially alters the initial product – including heating, smoking, curing, maturing, drying, marinating, extraction or extrusion, or any combination of these. The survey option carries the spelling “Transfomer”; it is displayed corrected throughout this report.

An operator at the start of the chain, in what EU food law calls primary production: the production, rearing or growing of primary products, including harvesting, milking and farmed-animal production prior to slaughter, as well as hunting, fishing and the harvesting of wild products. In bulk this is typically a producer selling directly, without an intermediary.

Resale of goods without transformation to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional or professional users, or to other wholesalers (NACE Division 46). A wholesaler serving bulk retail supplies the shop rather than the shopper, and is where reusable business-to-business packaging either replaces single-use packaging or does not.

Any natural or legal person in the supply chain, other than the producer or the importer, who makes packaging or packaged products available to resellers or end users. In practice the logistics role between the producer and the shop: moving goods, and in a bulk system also moving the empty containers back.

A company that does not sell the product but supplies what makes selling it in bulk possible: gravity dispensers and silos, weighing and tare systems, deposit and return hardware, washing equipment, or the software that tracks containers. No harmonised European definition exists for this role; it is a survey category.

Organisations that support the sector without trading in it: advisers, non-governmental organisations and sector networks, together with producer responsibility organisations – the entities that organise, financially or financially and operationally, the fulfilment of extended producer responsibility obligations on behalf of several producers. In Belgium the relevant PROs are Fost Plus for household packaging and Valipac for industrial and commercial packaging.