Transform retail operations with Zebra’s retail technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for improving inventory management and empowering teams.
Streamline operations with Zebra’s healthcare technology solutions, featuring hardware and software to improve staff collaboration and optimise workflows.
Enhance processes with Zebra’s manufacturing technology solutions, featuring hardware and software for automation, data analysis, and factory connectivity.
Zebra’s transportation and logistics technology solutions feature hardware and software for enhancing route planning, visibility, and automating processes.
Zebra's hospitality technology solutions equip your hotel and restaurant staff to deliver superior customer and guest service through inventory tracking and more.
Zebra's market-leading solutions and products improve customer satisfaction with a lower cost per interaction by keeping service representatives connected with colleagues, customers, management and the tools they use to satisfy customers across the supply chain.
Empower your field workers with purpose-driven mobile technology solutions to help them capture and share critical data in any environment.
Zebra's range of mobile computers equip your workforce with the devices they need from handhelds and tablets to wearables and vehicle-mounted computers.
Zebra's desktop, mobile, industrial, and portable printers for barcode labels, receipts, RFID tags and cards give you smarter ways to track and manage assets.
Zebra's 1D and 2D corded and cordless barcode scanners anticipate any scanning challenge in a variety of environments, whether retail, healthcare, T&L or manufacturing.
Zebra's extensive range of RAIN RFID readers, antennas, and printers give you consistent and accurate tracking.
Choose Zebra's reliable barcode, RFID and card supplies carefully selected to ensure high performance, print quality, durability and readability.
Zebra's rugged tablets and 2-in-1 laptops are thin and lightweight, yet rugged to work wherever you do on familiar and easy-to-use Windows or Android OS.
With Zebra's family of fixed industrial scanners and machine vision technologies, you can tailor your solutions to your environment and applications.
Zebra’s line of kiosks can meet any self-service or digital signage need, from checking prices and stock on an in-aisle store kiosk to fully-featured kiosks that can be deployed on the wall, counter, desktop or floor in a retail store, hotel, airport check-in gate, physician’s office, local government office and more.
Discover Zebra’s range of accessories from chargers, communication cables to cases to help you customise your mobile device for optimal efficiency.
Zebra's environmental sensors monitor temperature-sensitive products, offering data insights on environmental conditions across industry applications.
Zebra's location technologies provide real-time tracking for your organisation to better manage and optimise your critical assets and create more efficient workflows.
Enhance frontline operations with Zebra’s AI software solutions, which optimize workflows, streamline processes, and simplify tasks for improved business outcomes.
Empower your frontline with Zebra Companion AI, offering instant, tailored insights and support to streamline operations and enhance productivity.
Boost productivity with Zebra Frontline AI Enablers: AI vision models, sample apps, and APIs streamline workflows for efficient business processes.
Zebra Frontline AI Blueprints deliver adaptable, real-world AI frameworks that automate manual tasks and drive efficiency in high-pressure frontline operations.
Zebra Workcloud, enterprise software solutions boost efficiency, cut costs, improve inventory management, simplify communication and optimize resources.
Keep labour costs low, your talent happy and your organisation compliant. Create an agile operation that can navigate unexpected schedule changes and customer demand to drive sales, satisfy customers and improve your bottom line.
Drive successful enterprise collaboration with prioritized task notifications and improved communication capabilities for easier team collaboration.
Get full visibility of your inventory and automatically pinpoint leaks across all channels.
Reduce uncertainty when you anticipate market volatility. Predict, plan and stay agile to align inventory with shifting demand.
Drive down costs while driving up employee, security, and network performance with software designed to enhance Zebra's wireless infrastructure and mobile solutions.
Explore Zebra’s printer software to integrate, manage and monitor printers easily, maximising IT resources and minimising down time.
Make the most of every stage of your scanning journey from deployment to optimisation. Zebra's barcode scanner software lets you keep devices current and adapt them to your business needs for a stronger ROI across the full lifecycle.
RFID development, demonstration and production software and utilities help you build and manage your RFID deployments more efficiently.
RFID development, demonstration and production software and utilities help you build and manage your RFID deployments more efficiently.
Zebra DNA is the industry’s broadest suite of enterprise software that delivers an ideal experience for all during the entire lifetime of every Zebra device.
Advance your digital transformation and execute your strategic plans with the help of the right location and tracking technology.
The Zebra Aurora suite of machine vision software enables users to solve their track-and-trace, vision inspection and industrial automation needs.
Zebra Aurora Focus brings a new level of simplicity to controlling enterprise-wide manufacturing and logistics automation solutions. With this powerful interface, it’s easy to set up, deploy and run Zebra’s Fixed Industrial Scanners and Machine Vision Smart Cameras, eliminating the need for different tools and reducing training and deployment time.
Aurora Imaging Library™, formerly Matrox Imaging Library, machine-vision software development kit (SDK) has a deep collection of tools for image capture, processing, analysis, annotation, display, and archiving. Code-level customisation starts here.
Aurora Design Assistant™, formerly Matrox Design Assistant, integrated development environment (IDE) is a flowchart-based platform for building machine vision applications, with templates to speed up development and bring solutions online quicker.
Designed for experienced programmers proficient in vision applications, Aurora Vision Library provides the same sophisticated functionality as our Aurora Vision Studio software but presented in programming language.
Aurora Vision Studio, an image processing software for machine & computer vision engineers, allows quick creation, integration & monitoring of powerful OEM vision applications.
Adding innovative tech is critical to your success, but it can be complex and disruptive. Professional Services help you accelerate adoption, and maximise productivity without affecting your workflows, business processes and finances.
Zebra's Managed Service delivers worry-free device management to ensure ultimate uptime for your Zebra Mobile Computers and Printers via dedicated experts.
Find ways you can contact Zebra Technologies’ Support, including Email and Chat, ask a technical question or initiate a Repair Request.
Zebra's Circular Economy Program helps you manage today’s challenges and plan for tomorrow with smart solutions that are good for your budget and the environment.
Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)
Review date: July 2026
1. What is the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)?
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), formally cited as Regulation (EU) 2025/40, is a binding European Union legislative entered into force on 11 February 2025, and its core obligations apply from 12 August 2026. Additional requirements are phased in progressively through 2028, 2030, 2035, and 2040.
The PPWR replaces and repeals the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive 94/62/EC (PPWD), which had governed EU packaging law since 1994. Crucially, as an EU Regulation rather than a Directive the PPWR applies directly and uniformly across all EU Member States across EEA without requiring transposition into national law.
2. Core Objectives of the PPWR
- Ensure all packaging placed on the EEA market is recyclable by 2030, assessed using harmonized recyclability criteria and grading (Classes A–D).
- Introduce harmonized EU-wide labelling on all packaging to enable consistent consumer sorting and disposal from 2028.
- Strengthen and standardize Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes with eco-modulated fees across Member States.
- Support the EU Green Deal Circular Economy Action Plan and 2050 climate neutrality target.
3. What Constitutes Packaging Under the PPWR?
For Zebra Technologies, ‘packaging’ is defined as any material or component, regardless of its composition, that is used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, or presentation of a Zebra product at any stage in the supply chain.
This definition extends beyond the primary shipping box and includes every item that is not an integral, functional part of the final product itself and is intended to be removed and disposed of by an economic operator or the end-user.
4. What Does Zebra do with Packaging as Required by the PPWR?
As Zebra places packaged products in EEA markets, Zebra has obligations across the entire packaging lifecycle from design and materials selection through to end-of-life waste management. The PPWR places these responsibilities directly on producers the companies that first make packaging available on a national EEA market.
5. ZEBRA’s Packaging Obligations Under the PPWR
ZEBRA treats PPWR compliance as an opportunity not merely an obligation to reduce the environmental footprint of its products. Packaging teams work continuously to design out waste, increase recycled content, and support the collection and recycling infrastructure that enables packaging materials to remain in productive use.
6. What is the Role of End Users in Making the PPWR Sustainable?
Zebra end users who receive packaged goods play an essential and irreplaceable role in the sustainable management of packaging waste.
End User Obligations and Best Practices
- Sort packaging waste correctly at source by material category and place in the appropriate collection stream provided by the local municipality or private waste operator.
- Use designated collection points and follow hazard warnings and disposal instructions for specific hazardous materials and packaging containing hazardous products.
- Read and act on packaging disposal labels and pictograms. From 2028, EU-harmonized pictograms will provide consistent instructions across all Member States.
- Avoid littering and improper disposal. Packaging discarded in the environment cannot be collected, sorted, or recycled, and causes direct harm to ecosystems and human health.
- Minimize packaging waste by choosing products with less packaging and opting for refillable or reusable alternatives where available.
7. How Does ZEBRA Comply with the PPWR?
ZEBRA has implemented a structured PPWR compliance program covering producer registration, EPR financial contributions, packaging reporting, design compliance and labelling transitions. The program is managed by ZEBRA’s Environmental Compliance Team in coordination with packaging engineering, procurement, and legal functions.
8. Producer Registration
ZEBRA has registered or is in the process of registering with the national producer registers in each Member State where it is the obligated producer. Under the PPWR, producers must be registered in every country where they first make packaging available on the national market.
FAQ
1. Packaging Reporting
ZEBRA reports, on at least an annual basis, the quantities and types of packaging placed on the market in each Member State where it is obligated. Reports are disaggregated by material category and packaging type in accordance with the harmonized reporting formats under the PPWR and applicable national requirements.
2. Packaging Design Compliance
ZEBRA's packaging engineering and sustainability teams are actively working to ensure all packaging meets PPWR recyclability criteria ahead of the 2030 deadline. This includes assessing all packaging against D4R standards and recyclability class grading, reducing unnecessary packaging volume and layers, and eliminating restricted substances.
3. Labelling
ZEBRA will apply for required packaging disposal information labels in compliance with applicable Member State requirements. From 12 August 2028, ZEBRA will transition to the harmonized EU-wide disposal pictograms mandated by the PPWR.
4. When is ZEBRA NOT Obligated Under the PPWR?
ZEBRA's EPR and producer obligations under the PPWR are jurisdiction specific. They apply only in the EEA market where ZEBRA is the entity that first makes packaging available on the national market. Where another party in the supply chain holds this position, that party not ZEBRA bears the producer’s obligations.
The PPWR's definition of 'producer' is broad and may shift compliance responsibility across complex supply chains. Companies that previously considered themselves 'only distributors' or 'only brand owners' may now be classified as producers with full compliance obligations. If you are uncertain whether ZEBRA or your organization holds the producer’s obligation in each Member State, please contact ZEBRA’s Environmental Compliance Team for clarification.
Circumstances Where ZEBRA is Not the Obligated Producer
Circumstance | Explanation |
Sales through authorized distributors/resellers | Where an authorized distributor or reseller is the first entity making packaging available on a national EEA market, that distributor or reseller is the obligated producer not ZEBRA. The distribution partner bears registration, reporting, and EPR fee obligations in that country. |
Customers located outside the EEA | The PPWR applies to packaging placed on the EEA market. Sales to customers outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and non-EU third countries are outside the PPWR scope. Separate national packaging regulations may apply in those territories. However, any business from outside EEA countries exporting packaged goods into the EEA market must still fully comply to PPWR regulation. |
Internal/intra-logistics packaging | Packaging used purely for internal or inter-business logistical purposes and not made available to the market (e.g. reusable transit packaging consistently returned and never sold or transferred) may fall outside EPR reporting scope, subject to verification under applicable national rules. |
6. When is ZEBRA Obligated Under the PPWR?
ZEBRA is the obligated producer and therefore bears EPR registration, reporting, and financial contribution obligations under the PPWR in the following specific circumstances:
- For end user customers located in the EEA who purchase packaged products directly from ZEBRA; and
- For authorized distributors and resellers located in EEA market where ZEBRA has registered as the obligated producer and is the first entity making packaging available on that national market.
7. Acronyms, Definitions, and Further Information
The following acronyms and defined terms are used throughout this document in the context of the PPWR packaging compliance:
Acronym | Full Term and Explanation |
PPWR | Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation - Regulation (EU) 2025/40. The primary subject of this document. |
PPWD | Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive - Directive 94/62/EC. |
EPR | Extended Producer Responsibility - the system under which producers bear financial and operational responsibility for end-of-life management of packaging they place on the market. |
D4R | Design for Recycling - the set of harmonized criteria used to assess and classify packaging recyclability under the PPWR (graded Classes A to D). Only Class C or above permitted from 2030. |
EEA | European Economic Area - comprises the 27 EU Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. |
EU | European Union - the political and economic union of 27 Member States |
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