Dansk 
It’s here!
The Ministry of the Environment has just submitted the new regulation regarding extended producer responsibility for packaging for consultation.
The new regulation is exciting reading, as it establishes many of the rules that will be applicable and crucial for the implementation of extended producer responsibility for packaging. We will receive more detailed and concrete answers on how producer responsibility for packaging should be implemented—answers that we have all been asking for a long time.
Emballageretur has once again reviewed the text, so you don’t have to, and here’s a list of the currently most important content in the regulation:
1: MANDATORY MEMBERSHIP IN A PRO
The draft proposes that producers must join a PRO, such as Emballageretur.
Producers already registered with the DPA must be members of a PRO by January 14th, 2025.
Producers of reusable packaging may choose to join a PRO, but it is not required.
For Emballageretur, membership in a PRO must become mandatory, as it will help reduce the free-rider issue. This ensures that most covered companies contribute to the financial obligations of the producer responsibility.
Throughout the negotiation process with authorities, Emballageretur has been particularly attentive to this point, so it is gratifying to see that our hard work has paid off.
If you haven’t yet chosen a PRO, please remember: Emballageretur is built on almost 20 years of experience in handling the producer responsibility. We are ready to assist you from the very start.
Read more and join Emballageretur here.
2: ENVIRONMENTALLY GRADED CONTRIBUTIONS
We know that the rules on environmentally graded contributions have been in high demand among our members.
These rules describe the design criteria that will determine whether your company will pay more or less for its packaging under the PRO.
Although the rules are not final yet, the draft provides a good overview of the upcoming regulations.
PROs like Emballageretur must grade a producer’s financial contributions based on the operational costs of handling packaging waste.
However, no grading is required if the producer introduces less than 8 tons of packaging in a calendar year.
There are also exceptions for certain packaging types (e.g., medical device packaging).
- Inner packaging, as defined in Article 1, No. 23) of Directive 2001/83/EC and in Article 4, No. 25) of Regulation (EU) 2019/6.
- Contact-sensitive packaging for medical devices covered by Regulation (EU) 2017/745.
- Contact-sensitive packaging for in vitro diagnostic medical devices covered by Regulation (EU) 2017/746.
- Outer packaging, as defined in Article 1, No. 24) of Directive 2001/83/EC and in Article 4, No. 26) of Regulation (EU) 2019/6, where this packaging is necessary to meet specific requirements to preserve the quality of the medicinal product.
- Contact-sensitive packaging for infant formulas and complementary mixtures, processed foods based on cereals, baby food, and foods for special medical purposes as defined in Article 1, letters a), b), and c) of Regulation (EU) No. 609/2013.
The specific rules for environmentally graded contributions are detailed in Annex 14 of the draft, and we encourage you to familiarize yourselves with the rules.
Emballageretur will also provide more detailed descriptions of the rules on our website, and we will soon be hosting new webinars on this topic.
Explanation of Environmentally Graded Contributions:
The design criteria that will apply going forward for several material subcategories, including flexible plastics, rigid plastics, foam plastics, rigid PET, glass, cardboard, paper, food and beverage cartons, ferrous metals, and aluminum, have now been outlined.
If your packaging does not meet the design criteria, it will be placed in the “red” category.
Your PRO must then apply a 35 percent surcharge to each producer that makes packaging available in the red category.
The 35 percent surcharge is added to the operational costs associated with handling the packaging that the producer has placed on the market.
The calculation is made for each material subcategory. The PRO will then use the revenues from the surcharges collected in one material subcategory to provide a bonus to producers in the same material subcategory who make packaging available in the “green” category.
3: EXPANSION OF THE LIST OF COVERED PACKAGING CATEGORIES
The list of packaging categories covered by the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging is expanding also to include:
- Porcelain
- Ceramics
- Textiles
- Cork
Producers with packaging in these categories must also register and report data to the DPA.
Emballageretur can help your company with both these tasks.
4: RULES FOR REPORTING AND RETURNING REUSABLE PACKAGING
The new regulation proposes that producers (companies) that make reusable packaging available must register themselves or their representative with the DPA. This must be done by February 1st, 2025.
After February 1st, 2025, producers must register themselves, or their representative, with the DPA at least 14 days before they begin making reusable packaging available.
When the reusable packaging is no longer reused and becomes packaging waste, producers of reusable packaging must ensure that the packaging waste is collected.
This is done following the general rules on producers’ collection of packaging waste through their own collection schemes.
5: REPORTING OF FINAL PACKAGING QUANTITIES GOING FORWARD
Unfortunately, there are also additional administrative obligations for producers (the affected companies).
Producers must report information each year before June 1st to the DPA on the amount of packaging the producer made available in the previous calendar year.
This also applies to 2024.
Therefore, all affected companies must report their final packaging amounts made available by June 1st, 2025.
Emballageretur can help and guide you. This requirement also applies to reusable packaging made available on the Danish market.
The reason for this requirement, according to the authorities, is that the data will be used to make decisions regarding the allocation of organizational responsibilities and payment obligations under the producer responsibility.
6: ALLOCATION PERIODS ARE ESTABLISHED
According to the draft regulation, the first allocation period will run from October 1st, 2025, to December 31st, 2026.
Thereafter, the allocation periods will follow a two-year cycle starting from January 1st.
The allocation will be based on reported marketed quantities and waste volumes. The DPA will assign the organizational responsibility (for managing waste transport and treatment) and payment obligations to packaging producers according to specific regulations.
The regulation also stipulates that municipalities will continue to collect waste from households under current rules, but the municipal councils must then transfer certain waste fractions to packaging producers. These producers will handle the further transport and treatment of the transferred waste, primarily through organizations like Emballageretur and other collective schemes.
7: COMPENSATING WASTE-PRODUCING COMPANIES
The Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging must also cover the waste-generating companies’ costs for collection, transport, and treatment of their packaging waste. Therefore, the regulation introduces rules on how these companies can be compensated for these costs.
According to the wording of the regulation, waste-generating companies can request compensation themselves. Such a request must be directed to the producer or their PRO, which has been assigned the payment obligation for business packaging waste in the relevant material category.
This must be done in the municipality where the waste-generating company is physically located, according to its company registration number (p-number).
Emballageretur has worked hard to ensure that the request for compensation could be made through the collection companies with whom the waste-generating companies have agreements. However, this consideration has not been included in the draft.
We at Emballageretur are concerned that too many companies will fail to apply for compensation due to the administrative burden of requesting it directly.
On the other hand, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency will set key figures to be used by producers to calculate the amount they must pay to cover the waste-generating companies’ costs for collection, transport, and waste treatment of business packaging waste.
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency will determine these key figures for the first time no later than October 1st, 2025, and they will be price-adjusted at least once a year.
Therefore, there is no guarantee that waste-generating companies will be 100% compensated for their costs. However, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency states that they will review the key figures if, over a longer period, they are found to deviate by more than 25% from the actual market price.
THE NEXT STEP – PLEASE SHARE YOUR INPUT
Emballageretur is now beginning to study the draft of the new regulations closely, and we will have our consultation response ready by the November 1, 2024 deadline.
We will share even more useful information once we have thoroughly reviewed the draft, Stay tuned for updates in our newsletter, Emballage News.
Our latest consultation response was particularly focused on the lack of regulations and called for a postponement of the implementation of producer responsibility, a message that received significant media coverage.
We would like to hear your comments on the consultation draft, so please send them to us by the deadline of November 1, 2024, at info@emballageretur.dk.
Read more:
The Ministry of Environment and Gender Equality expects the regulations to come into effect by December 31, 2024, with certain points taking effect from October 1, 2025.
EMBALLAGERETUR IS READY TO HELP YOU
Do you have questions about the producer responsibility or would you like to become a member of Emballageretur’?
The team at Emballageretur is ready to assist you today.
Call us at +45 3336 9198
Send us an email at info@emballageretur.dk
Register your company by visiting www.emballageretur.dk/en/sigunp
