The European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) has launched an industry-wide consultation to collect stakeholder feedback on the recently developed Design for Circularity (DfC) guidelines for PET bottles. The consultation will be open for two months, for example until 15 February 2026, and represents the next step following the publication of the Circularity Protocol and the Quick Test–AIT.Circularity, confirming EPBP's commitment to supporting the PET value chain in its transition toward true circularity.
DfC is an evolution beyond the currently applied Design for Recyclability (DfR) guidelines. While DfR focuses on ensuring high-quality recyclate after a single use of the product, Design for Circularity adopts a more ambitious approach. The new guidelines are intended to maintain material quality and functionality across multiple recycling loops, in line with European Union policy expectations and industry requirements for closed-loop PET systems. Implementing DfC is expected to enable the design of PET bottles and related components in a way that supports multiple returns of the material to production, rather than only one-off recovery of secondary raw material.
EPBP states that the transition from DfR guidelines to DfC guidelines will be presented in detail during the Petcore Europe Annual Conference, which will take place on 4 and 5 February. During the event, the principles of the new approach and its implications for the entire PET bottle value chain are to be discussed. Making DfC available and applying it is intended to allow the industry to focus on solutions that support multi-loop recycling and the stable operation of closed-loop systems.
Scope and objective of the industry consultation
The consultation is aimed at a broad range of market participants. EPBP invites PET producers, converters, brand owners, recyclers, technology providers and other stakeholders to take part. Participants in the consultation can review the DfC framework and submit comments before the document is finalised. The feedback collected is expected to help refine the guidelines so that they are practical, scientifically robust and aligned with operational realities at the various stages of the value chain.
EPBP emphasises that the objective of the consultation is not only to verify the technical assumptions but also to assess the feasibility of the proposed solutions within the existing infrastructure for collection, sorting and recycling of PET bottles. DfC is intended to serve as a support tool for packaging designers, brand owners and recycling system operators when making design, material and technology decisions that will enable the implementation of circular economy principles for PET bottles.
Link to European standardisation
As a liaison organisation to the CEN Technical Committee, EPBP acts as a bridge between the work on the DfC guidelines and the European standardisation process. The platform declares full support for the ongoing CEN standardisation project and announces that it will share progress on the development of the Design for Circularity guidelines with the committee. This is intended to further strengthen regulatory and market coherence in Europe and to help ensure that the solutions developed under DfC can be taken into account in future standards.
The EPBP communication also recalls the use of the Quick Test–AIT.Circularity tool, where AIT stands for Accelerated Impact Test. This test has been developed as a support element for assessing the impact of design solutions on the circularity of PET systems. It is linked to the previously published Circularity Protocol and is intended to complement the broader DfC guidelines by enabling a rapid assessment of proposed packaging innovations in terms of their impact on the potential for multiple recycling of the material.
Stakeholder participation and access to the consultation
EPBP encourages all stakeholders involved in the PET bottle value chain to participate in the consultation process. Interested parties can submit their comments and suggestions via the dedicated consultation portal. It is available at: https://www.epbp.org/design-guidelines/products. The feedback collected in this way is expected to contribute to refining the final form of the Design for Circularity guidelines before their adoption and broader implementation in market practice.
