Its a wrap! After more than three years of research, experimentation and collaboration, we are proud to announce the publication of the Technical Proposal for an EU Harmonised Waste Sorting Labelling System.
Developed here, in the EU Policy Lab, the proposal brings together an extensive body of evidence to inform the future implementation of harmonised waste sorting labels under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU 2025/40, Article 12).
Read the full publication here: JRC technical proposal on EU harmonised waste sorting labels under the packaging and packaging waste regulation
Why this matters
Harmonising waste sorting labels across the EU is much more than a technical exercise: it is a behavioural and social challenge. A truly effective labelling system must work in the everyday life of millions of Europeans across diverse national systems, infrastructures, cultures, and recycling habits.
This Technical Proposal is a milestone because it translates experimental and participatory research into concrete, policy-relevant guidance. It supports the Directorate-General for Environment in developing an Implementing Act ensuring a harmonised application of packaging waste sorting labels across all Member States. Harmonisation matters because it creates the common conditions needed for citizen and industries alike to act with clarity and confidence.
A rare convergence of evidence strands
What makes this work distinctive is its innovative combination of behavioural insights and design for policy and the deliberate merging of multiple strands of evidence streams, rather than relying on a single method. Over the course of the project, we brought together:
- Large-scale quantitative evidence: experimental surveys with about 17,000 citizens across 21 Member States complemented by behavioural experiments involving over 11,000 participants.
- Stakeholder engagement through design-driven research: an expert workshop series and two targeted consultations with packaging manufacturers, waste operators, policymakers, labelling specialists and NGOs from across Europe.
- Citizen co-creation: a set of participatory workshops in six Member States engaged hundreds of citizens to ensure that the proposed system reflects everyday experience and decision-making.
- Prototyping and iteration: label concepts were tested and refined through prototypes, allowing citizens and stakeholders to experience the full labelling system.
- Behavioural insights and design expertise: drawing on evidence from successful national systems such as the Nordic Scheme and the broader scientific literature, we tested how labels can guide waste sorting behaviour effectively, accessibly and intuitively.
Together, these strands allowed us to move beyond abstract principles, helping address practical questions about usability, accessibility, adaptability to different collection systems, and long-term evolvability.
Participation as a policy asset
At the heart of this process was a strong commitment to participation — not as an afterthought, at the end of policymaking, but as a driver for the design, legal and practical implementation of a new Waste Sorting Labelling system.
Experts, stakeholders as well as citizens were all treated as contributors of knowledge, experience, and perspective. Through design-driven and behavioural methods, the project was able to test ideas, uncover constraints, and collectively identify solutions. This ensured the resulting proposal is both technically sound, and sensitive to Europe’s diversity.
In doing so, the process demonstrated how participatory and interdisciplinary approaches can bridge the gap between EU-level policy goals and on-the-ground realities in packaging design, waste collection, and recycling behaviour.
From experimentation to implementation
The publication of the Technical Proposal marks the transition from exploration to implementation. It consolidates years of iterative and collaborative work into a coherent framework that will guide the next phase: developing the Implementing Act and its adoption.
Beyond waste sorting labels, this work illustrates the power of combining behavioural insights and design for policy to tackle complex sustainability challenges. It shows how policy experimentation, when inclusive and evidence-based, can deliver actionable outcomes with great potential for real-world impact.
Follow our Waste Sorting Label journey through our blog series:
Details
- Publication date
- 26 January 2026
- Author
- Joint Research Centre
- Department
- Directorate-General for Environment
- EU Policy Lab tags
