Last month, over 7,000 visitors and 240 exhibitors descended on the Cape Town International Convention Centre for the Western Cape’s leading packaging and processing trade exhibition.

Petco was in the thick of things at Propak Cape 2026, where the team manned an exhibition stand and connected with key role-players in the packaging, plastics, printing, labelling and food processing industries – exchanging insights and exploring solutions for a more sustainable packaging future.

Petco CEO Telly Chauke was one of the headline speakers at the Seminar Theatre, where she drew a full house for her talk exploring the impact of global packaging regulatory shifts on South Africa’s domestic EPR landscape and local producers.

Describing what is referred to as “the Brussels Effect”, Telly explained the obligations of the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) for South African producers and brand owners involved in the export of food and beverage products.

As Telly noted, the EU policy aims to ultimately prevent products in non-recyclable packaging from entering the European market. Recyclability, recycled content and verified reporting are becoming conditions of market access, with many multinational companies moving to harmonise packaging specifications to reduce complexity across global markets.

Against this backdrop, she said South Africa would need to make some policy reforms to remain globally competitive as the country moves into the next phase of extended producer responsibility (EPR).

While South Africa’s EPR framework has established a strong foundation for producer responsibility and waste diversion, she said the next phase would require a shift from compliance-focused implementation towards a more data-driven, outcomes-based system that actively promotes sustainable packaging design, material circularity, greater investment in local recycling infrastructure to meet future demand and, ultimately, stronger conformity with international regulatory trends.

Telly emphasised the need for South Africa’s EPR system to stay aligned with global moves while still supporting local economic development, innovation, environmental performance and circular economy growth.