Packaging waste is an important and growing waste stream. The amended Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive has recently been adopted, and work is underway to develop EU thematic strategies on waste prevention and recycling and on the sustainable use and management of natural resources. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (hereafter: packaging directive) is one of the few environmentally-related directives to contain directly measurable, quantitative targets. It has now been in place for ten years and this is an opportune time to take stock of this important policy area. The EEA has conducted a pilot study of the effectiveness of packaging waste management systems in five EU Member States with the aim of gaining practical and concrete experience of ex-post policy effectiveness evaluation, and to track progress in this policy area. This pilot study is a comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of packaging waste management systems in Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom. It makes an ex-post analysis of the effectiveness of the systems in terms of their contribution to fulfilling the environmental objectives specified in the EU directive, and national targets where applicable. It primarily covers data from 1997 to 2001. Direct comparison between countries' waste generation is not possible because of differences in data-reporting methodologies. Rather than being a simple 'ranking' exercise, the study aims to provide a deeper analysis of how these national systems work, highlighting elements that work well.