Recital 13

(13) An item which is an integral part of a product and is necessary to contain, support or preserve that product throughout its lifetime and where all elements of that item are intended to be used, consumed or disposed of together should not be considered to be packaging given that its functionality is intrinsically linked to it being part of the product. However, in light of the disposal behaviour of consumers regarding tea and coffee bags as well as coffee or tea system single-serve units, which, in practice, are disposed of together with the product residue, leading to the contamination of compostable and recycling streams, those specific items should be treated as packaging. That approach is in line with the objective to increase the separate collection of bio-waste, as required by Article 22 of Directive 2008/98/EC, and ensures coherence regarding end-of-life financial and operational obligations. Paints, inks, varnishes, lacquers and adhesives that have been applied directly on a product should not be considered to be packaging. However, labels hung directly on or affixed to a product, including sticky labels affixed to fruits and vegetables, should be considered to be packaging, since, while the glue on the label is adhesive, the label itself is not. Furthermore, if a given material represents only an insignificant part of a packaging unit, and in any event no more than 5 % of the total mass of the packaging unit, such a packaging unit should not be considered to be composite packaging. The definition of composite packaging in this Regulation should not exempt single-use packaging partially made of plastics, regardless of the threshold level, from the requirements of Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8).

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Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-08-26 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.