New EU waste regs to annihilate small business.
New EU waste regs to annihilate small business.
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Discussion

Rick_1138

Original Poster:

3,940 posts

206 months

Yesterday (09:00)
quotequote all
I am starting to see sine traction online about new waste regs coming out of the EU regarding shipping items within and into the EU.

Basically you need to register in EACH member state with a fee of about £200-370 to ship products into the EU.

This is totally enviable for many small or micro businesses that ship now and then to other countries and there's zero guidance on if , fir example I paint commission figures, and it's wrapped in bubble wrap and usually reuse a good quality box or buy a suitable one to ship.

There's very little difference between a microbusiness and a huge seller in the legislation eyes and it starts in 6 days.

It's kind of cime out of nowhere and a lot of small or sole trader creators are starting to panic a bit.

Part of the issue is the legislation is incredibly long winded and dry and hardly anyone can work out if there's exemptions or thresholds etc.

It's fun running a small business, I recommend.....

Paddymcc

1,283 posts

219 months

Yesterday (09:05)
quotequote all
Has this not been a thing for around 12/18mths?

I know we've come across it via our ecommerce marketplaces requesting our packaging partners in the EU.

I completely get the point of it for large retailers like amazon but utterly baffling for small retailers. Why not just make ALL packaging be compostable or recyclable instead of creating paperwork bullst like this.

I know we reuse all packaging that we receive as it saves quite a bit on void fill.


Randy Winkman

21,978 posts

217 months

Yesterday (09:10)
quotequote all
Rick_1138 said:
I am starting to see sine traction online about new waste regs coming out of the EU regarding shipping items within and into the EU.

Basically you need to register in EACH member state with a fee of about £200-370 to ship products into the EU.

This is totally enviable for many small or micro businesses that ship now and then to other countries and there's zero guidance on if , fir example I paint commission figures, and it's wrapped in bubble wrap and usually reuse a good quality box or buy a suitable one to ship.

There's very little difference between a microbusiness and a huge seller in the legislation eyes and it starts in 6 days.

It's kind of cime out of nowhere and a lot of small or sole trader creators are starting to panic a bit.

Part of the issue is the legislation is incredibly long winded and dry and hardly anyone can work out if there's exemptions or thresholds etc.

It's fun running a small business, I recommend.....
Can you provide any links? EU stuff usually takes ages to agree so I'm surprised it feels like it's come from nowhere.

Rick_1138

Original Poster:

3,940 posts

206 months

Yesterday (09:52)
quotequote all
It came out in August 2025 I believe but comes into force August 12 2026.

Its gone very under the radar.

Few places talking about it, one example:

https://www.averydennison.com/eu/en/industries/con...

.:ian:.

2,991 posts

231 months

Yesterday (10:03)
quotequote all
Paddymcc said:
... instead of creating paperwork bullst like this.
Its the EU, its what they do best laugh

Randy Winkman

21,978 posts

217 months

Yesterday (11:49)
quotequote all
.:ian:. said:
Paddymcc said:
... instead of creating paperwork bullst like this.
Its the EU, its what they do best laugh
If only there was some way to contribute to the development of all of the EU rules that UK companies are affected by. wink

200bhp

5,787 posts

247 months

Yesterday (15:09)
quotequote all
We have a small business here in Australia and periodically ship to EU countries. Out products are normally shipped in a large cardboard box with the parts wrapped in LOTS of bubble wrap for protection.

This is the first I've seen of this EU requirement - I assume it will affect businesses globally shipping into the UK< not just UK-to-EU?

JoshSm

4,598 posts

65 months

Yesterday (18:30)
quotequote all
Randy Winkman said:
.:ian:. said:
Paddymcc said:
... instead of creating paperwork bullst like this.
Its the EU, its what they do best laugh
If only there was some way to contribute to the development of all of the EU rules that UK companies are affected by. wink
If they manage to make such a mess with 27 members having 28 is unlikely to have changed it.

There's a lot of insane regulation about and they're always creating more.

pingu393

10,907 posts

233 months

Yesterday (18:53)
quotequote all
Isn't the whole point of the EU that it acts like one giant country?

This is obviously just a way to stop outsiders.

Mortarboard

12,811 posts

83 months

Yesterday (19:02)
quotequote all
Seems registration is for manufacturers of packaging.

Any links to users needing to register?

Otherwise from what i can see it's basically "more recycled/recyclable packaging required"

M.

Rick_1138

Original Poster:

3,940 posts

206 months

pingu393 said:
Isn't the whole point of the EU that it acts like one giant country?

This is obviously just a way to stop outsiders.
It's EU to EU states also.

There's guys who make cast busts they sculpt of fantasy figures etc now stopping shipping to EU, but there's no way to easily confirm who it actually applies to and why a business of 1 or 2 need to have a £300 agent registered for shipping in each EU state just as say Amazon would.