REP Law 2026: what it means for buyers of export packaging

If you buy or specify export packaging, you have probably already been asked about the REP Law. It is not a new requirement from your supplier: it is a national target that starts setting concrete deadlines in 2026, and it directly affects how easily you can justify the package you chose to your own customer.

What the REP Law is, in one sentence

The Extended Producer Responsibility (REP) Law shifts part of the responsibility for what happens to a package after use onto whoever placed it on the market. For non-household plastics — the category that covers industrial and export packaging — Chile sets a recovery target of 32% for 2026, on the way to 55%.

What “recovery” means for a real package

In practice, the target can be met in two ways that are not mutually exclusive: by managing the return and recycling of the package after use, or by reducing, from the design stage, how much new virgin material enters the system. The second route is one a packaging buyer can act on today, without waiting for recycling infrastructure: make the package with recycled material (RPET) instead of virgin PET.

It is the same logic behind why more and more export technical data sheets ask you to declare the percentage of recycled material in the package, not just the material.

Why this is not a compromise on quality

Properly processed RPET keeps the barrier and the clarity that a food-contact package requires. At Oskupack we make the sheet in the same plant where the package is thermoformed, so the percentage of recycled material — from 0 to 100% — is defined with you according to what your buyer requires, without changing supplier or process.

What to ask before defining the package

• What percentage of recycled material does this format contain, and can it go up if my buyer requires it?
• Does the manufacturer extrude its own sheet, or does it only thermoform what arrives ready-made?
• Does the package have a current food-contact certification, with a verifiable certificate number?

None of these questions should take more than one call to answer. If your current supplier does not have the answer at hand, that is a sign of how prepared they are for 2026.