loi AGEC, Triman and Compostable Packaging in France: A Compliance Guide
A Rennes brand owner sent us her packaging artwork in March with a note: “My printer says somebody has to print the Triman, and Citeo says it isn’t them.” She had a container of bagasse clamshells booked for June and a carton design carrying the old Triman layout and no Info-tri panel at all. Her real question was who is on the hook when the artwork is wrong, and whether a compostable item even belongs in the stream her panel pointed at.
We press bagasse and cornstarch tableware in Qingdao — roughly 2,500–3,000 tonnes a year for export, France included. We are not your legal adviser, but we sit on the factory side of many French import files. Here is what we know about loi AGEC, what evidence we hold, and how on-pack rules change your artwork before the print run.
loi AGEC and PPWR: two layers, one compliance file
loi AGEC is French national law — the loi anti-gaspillage pour une économie circulaire, dated 10 February 2020 — bundling single-use plastic phase-outs, extended producer responsibility, consumer information rules and greenwashing restrictions.
PPWR is the EU level — Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste — applying directly across member states on a phased timeline. Verify current dates with ADEME, Citeo or French counsel before planning around any deadline. /blog/eu-ppwr-packaging-regulation-2026-guide/ covers the EU layer.
Who is the obligated party in France
A Chinese factory is not the obligated party in France. Obligations attach to whoever first places packaged products on the French market — normally the importer or brand owner. Under the French EPR framework, any producer as defined in the Environment Code must hold a contract with an approved eco-organisation for the packaging waste its products generate, and register before using the Info-tri.
| Obligation | Who it falls on | Importer action |
|---|---|---|
| EPR registration with an approved eco-organisation | First party placing packaged goods on the French market | Contract with Citeo or another approved scheme before selling |
| Volume declaration and eco-contributions | Same party | Declare packaging by material and weight; keep data traceable per SKU |
| Triman + Info-tri on-pack | Same party | Apply the French sorting marks in French on household packaging |
| Consumer claim discipline | Same party | Avoid prohibited wording; document any compostable claim |
| Material and claim evidence | Via the supplier | Hold EN 13432 reports and certification matching the exact SKU |
| Downstream requests | Your customer | Pass registration and sorting-label confirmation on request |
An importer cannot declare volumes accurately without knowing material and weight per unit arriving — so we prepare a per-SKU weight breakdown.
Triman and Info-tri: what actually goes on the pack
From 1 January 2022, a harmonised Info-tri signal, accompanied by the Triman logo, became mandatory on household packaging and graphic papers in France, with a deadline of 9 March 2023 and a stock run-down extension to 9 September 2022 for packaging imported before then. Citeo publishes the guide and the graphic files.
Two things matter for a factory. The mark is drawn from Citeo’s files, not redrawn by a designer — our artwork team asks for the exported asset rather than rebuilding it. And the panel has to say, in French, where the item goes. Our Rennes buyer’s old panel pointed at a stream that no longer matched her commune.
The three-bin reality French consumers see
French households now sort into broadly three streams: the yellow bin for recyclable paper, card, metal and plastic packaging; the organic or bio-waste stream, collected in a green or brown bin depending on the commune; and the residual bin for the rest. Naming and colours are not uniform nationally, and the legal generalisation of separate bio-waste collection reached households in 2024.
Bagasse complicates this. A plain bagasse plate looks like card to a French consumer, but moulded fibre tableware is not recycled as paper in most French streams. The honest options are narrow:
- Certified home compostable, with a domestic-composting certificate behind it, pointing consumers to the organic stream.
- Industrial-only (EN 13432), which should not be pointed at a home bin at all.
Getting that wrong is not a cosmetic error. It is the exact mismatch that consumer-information enforcement targets.
Where France permits or encourages compostable tableware
France is not hostile to compostable packaging; it is specific about where it earns its place. In Citeo’s own publications, end-of-life options are ordered: reduction first, then reuse, then recycling, and composting last — reserved for packaging tied to organic matter. Composting destroys the material rather than recovering it to displace virgin material, so it is not a universal upgrade.
That is why France pushed reuse hardest in foodservice. From 1 January 2023, single-use tableware, cups, cutlery and plates were to end in fast food, workplace catering, school canteens and comparable venues serving at least twenty people. For those channels the defensible answer is reusable.
Compostable earns its place where packaging is sold loose with food — fruit and vegetable bags, bio-waste collection bags, tea bags, coffee pods — and wherever a bio-waste stream exists to take the item. For a French café, dark kitchen or caterer the test is simple: is there a collection route, and does your certificate match it?
What evidence a Chinese factory supplies
Food contact and compostability are separate questions. Per SKU we supply: EN 13432 test reports from accredited labs; third-party certification — TÜV Austria OK Compost INDUSTRIAL or OK Compost HOME, DIN CERTCO, BPI or ASTM D6400 as applicable; a material and coating declaration, since the coating often decides compostability; food-contact documentation covering EU 1935/2004 fitness; and heavy-metal plus ecotoxicity results. Certificates expire and testing is periodic, so a two-year-old pack proves history, not current status. Re-verify at each PO.
Our /certifications/ page lists which document travels with which line; the standards are unpacked in /compostable-certification-standards/ and compared in /blog/compostable-certifications-2026-guide/.
What “compostable” may say on French packaging
AGEC tightened environmental claims. In plastic products and packaging, French law forbids vague wording such as “biodegradable” and “environmentally friendly” or equivalent mentions. We also understand that plastic products and packaging whose compostability can only be achieved in an industrial facility may not carry the “compostable” mention.
We hedge deliberately: the precise wording and current status are for Citeo and your French counsel to confirm. For a moulded fibre item, the claim on the pack must match the certificate in your file, per SKU.
Artwork: the deadline nobody plans for
Triman and Info-tri sit on the pack, not on a sticker added at the warehouse, so they belong in artwork approval. In practice we see three situations: artwork supplied print-ready; artwork with a placeholder panel; and no panel at all, assuming the importer will over-label later.
The third is the expensive one. We have reprinted a moulded lid run because the Info-tri panel was set in the wrong stream colour, and the buyer found out after the cartons were printed. If your panel is not final, say so at quotation — we build a version-control step into the plate proof instead of letting it slip to loading.
FAQ: loi AGEC, Triman and compostable tableware in France
Does compostable packaging escape EPR obligations in France?
No. Compostable packaging on the French market is still packaging. You contract with an approved eco-organisation and declare volumes by material and weight. What changes is the sorting instruction — not the obligation.
Who is responsible for printing the Triman and Info-tri?
The party placing the packaging on the French market — normally the importer or brand owner — is responsible for the signal being correct and present. We print to your artwork, but the obligation is not transferred to a Chinese factory by asking us to typeset it.
Which bin should a bagasse plate point to?
Not the yellow paper and card bin in most French streams, because moulded fibre tableware is not recycled as paper there. A certified home-compostable item can point to the organic stream; an industrial-only item should not be routed to a domestic heap. /home-vs-industrial-composting/ explains the split.
Is compostable preferred over reuse in France?
Not generally. French policy sequences reduction, reuse, recycling, and places composting last, for packaging tied to organic matter. In fast food, school and workplace catering, reuse has been the priority route since 2023.
Can I write “biodegradable” on French packaging?
French law restricts vague environmental mentions including “biodegradable” on plastic products and packaging. Use a defined standard and a certificate, and confirm permitted wording with Citeo or French counsel before print.
What documentation should a French buyer request from us?
EN 13432 reports, third-party certification covering the finished product rather than the raw sheet, a coating declaration, food-contact documentation, and a per-SKU weight and material breakdown for your EPR declaration.
Next step
Send us your SKU list, the French channels you sell into, your annual volume and the artwork deadline. We will return MOQ tiers, an indicative FOB band per SKU and a per-SKU document map showing which claim we can back and which we cannot. If a Triman panel or compostable claim is not defensible in your channel, we would rather flag it from Qingdao than have your printer flag it in Rennes. Start at /request-quote/, or handle the material first with a /sample-request/. Buyers comparing markets may find /blog/bagasse-tableware-importers-usa-guide/ and /blog/bagasse-vs-plastic-cost/ useful; /export-shipping-bagasse-containers-from-china/ covers the freight leg into Le Havre or Marseille.
Note: regulatory positions described here are our understanding as a supplier, not legal advice. Verify loi AGEC, Triman and Info-tri requirements, EPR registration and permitted claims with Citeo, ADEME or qualified French counsel before placing packaging on the market.
