How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs<br>Alain Pannetrat, August 24, 2026

Lectronz is a marketplace for open-source hardware makers and DIY electronics. Most of our sellers are not factories or well-funded start-ups. They are engineers, independent designers, and hardware enthusiasts working from spare rooms, garages, and tiny workshops.

Some earn a living from their products. Some sell only a handful of boards each year. Others build ten units simply because they created something useful and want to share it with the community. Occasionally, one of those experiments grows into a real business. Every Arduino begins somewhere.

But the European Union's new packaging rules now threaten to kill the world of makers and micro-entrepreneurs, putting jobs, livelihoods and an entire ecosystem of innovation at risk.

And this threat is not just limited to makers and engineers. It affects artists, craftspeople and other micro-entrepreneurs selling their work across the EU.

A good idea, a terrible implementation

The EU has required producers to take responsibility for packaging waste for many years through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes. The new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which generally applies from 12 August 2026, aims to harmonise packaging rules across the European Union and reduce waste.

The main idea of EPR is sensible: businesses that place packaging on the market should help finance its collection and recycling.

For makers, this means taking responsibility for the boxes, envelopes, plastic bags and other packaging used to deliver their products. This is an idea we can all get behind.

Unfortunately, instead of creating a single European system, the PPWR preserves a fragmented national model. A business selling directly to customers across the EU must register and fulfil its obligations separately in every Member State where its packaging becomes waste. For large companies, this is part of the cost of doing business; for micro-businesses selling only a handful of products into each country, the cost and administrative burden can be wildly disproportionate to the amount of packaging involved.

Imagine an engineer in Greece who designs a €25 open-source sensor board...

During the first year, he sells five to Germany, two to France, two to Austria and one to Belgium. Each ships in a small antistatic bag and a padded envelope. The amount of packaging generated for each sale is probably around 50 grams.

He has just become a packaging waste producer in four countries.

Based on indicative prices currently quoted by national schemes and compliance providers, the annual cost for France alone can look like this:

Registering for a packaging scheme, totalling €110 in fees per year.

Using the services of an Authorised representative, adding €190 to €300 in costs per year.

Spending time registering, documenting, and reporting waste created.

These indicative costs continue to add up for each country:

Belgium: €50 to €100 administrative fees per year, plus the services of an authorised representative (approx. €250 to €450).

Germany: registration is free, but packaging-scheme participation starts at approximately €10 per year, plus an authorised representative costing around €190 per year.

Austria: €250 administrative fees per year, plus the services of an authorised representative (approx. €100).

In short, the barrier to entry for these four countries totals €1150 per year in an optimistic scenario.

The weight-based environmental contribution associated with half a kilogram of packaging should be measured in cents. The bureaucracy required to account for it is measured in thousands of euros.

Now imagine you want to sell to all 27 Member States! To make it worthwhile, our Greek engineer needs to sell not 10 boards, not 100, but literally thousands of boards every year from the very start.

It simply isn’t worth it anymore.

Killing innovation softly

Often, innovation doesn’t come from large established corporations, but from small businesses that start from scratch with new ideas and little money. Before becoming successful and selling millions of products, many companies started selling 10, then 100, then 1000. Most businesses never make it there. But there has to be space where ideas can be tested. This is one of the reasons Lectronz exists.

In the past year, while some sellers on Lectronz sold hundreds of products, half of our registered sellers got fewer than 10 orders. This is not a bug, but the nature of a marketplace like Lectronz where makers are free to experiment with product ideas. Some ideas don’t work. Some creators on Lectronz only build 10 units and share them with the community without making a profit. But even products that “fail” have a value. When hardware creators share them with the community, they help others grow as well. One piece of hardware may unlock the creation of another,...