New EU waste regs to annihilate small business.

[Rick_1138]

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]

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]

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]

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:.]

Paddymcc said:

... instead of creating paperwork bullst like this.

Its the EU, its what they do best

[Randy Winkman]

.:ian:. said:

Paddymcc said:

... instead of creating paperwork bullst like this.

Its the EU, its what they do best

If only there was some way to contribute to the development of all of the EU rules that UK companies are affected by.

[200bhp]

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]

Randy Winkman said:

.:ian:. said:

Paddymcc said:

... instead of creating paperwork bullst like this.

Its the EU, its what they do best

If only there was some way to contribute to the development of all of the EU rules that UK companies are affected by.

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Scarletpimpofnel]

Randy Winkman said:

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.

No small business owner can possibly keep a track of all the legislation going through every jurisdiction that may or may not ever become law and will change along the way. At best you start to take a serious interest when it looks a certainty not when it's being bounced around the EU for years.

In thea rear I was in, as a small business owner, I had to keep abreast of multiplke countries employment laws, taxation laws, product laws,.... the list was endless and every budget in every country could change everything instantly. Not to mention wars, inflation and everything else that affects your plan on a daily basis.

I'd not knock OP for only just starting to get to grips with what this means for him.

[Randy Winkman]

Scarletpimpofnel said:

Randy Winkman said:

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.

No small business owner can possibly keep a track of all the legislation going through every jurisdiction that may or may not ever become law and will change along the way. At best you start to take a serious interest when it looks a certainty not when it's being bounced around the EU for years.

In thea rear I was in, as a small business owner, I had to keep abreast of multiplke countries employment laws, taxation laws, product laws,.... the list was endless and every budget in every country could change everything instantly. Not to mention wars, inflation and everything else that affects your plan on a daily basis.

I'd not knock OP for only just starting to get to grips with what this means for him.

Fair point well made. I certainly didn't mean to imply it's easy to keep track of all of this stuff.

[Rick_1138]

Seeing lots of posts on Instagram in the hobby sphere of businesses cancelling sales to EU as its just unaffordable and the legislation has come almost out of nowhere given the weight of it.

People are just realising how much this effects them and it's simply mind boggling. It's designed to stop the tatt sellers from China on amazon etc but it's an atomic bomb of a solution.

There's hope they will exempt very small businesses but if its late about packaging maybe not.

The question is how are they going to police it, cut open every parcel going in and look for bubble wrap