EMBALLAGERETUR CAN HELP YOU COMPLY WITH THE PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY FOR PACKAGING
The extended producer responsibility for packaging will enter into force in Denmark on January 1st, 2025. This means that producers affected will be responsible for the costs related to the recycling of the packaging associated with their products. Elretur has therefore expanded our producer organisation to cover packaging (Emballageretur) in addition to the producer responsibility for WEEE and batteries which Elretur has handled since 2005 on behalf of more than 950 members. We therefore have both the required experience, and we expect to achieve considerable benefits to the advantage of our member companies covered by the coming legislation.
Please contact us if you have questions or are interested in knowing more about how Elretur can help you get ready when EPR for packaging enters into force in Denmark.
EU packaging directive in Denmark
Denmark is the last country in Europe to implement the EU packaging directive on EPR (extended producer responsibility).
The packaging directive will be implemented January 1st 2025. The overall legal framework is in place. The orders that will outline the set-up in practice are expected to be sent into consultation before the end of 2022.
Setup and costs – what we know so far
Financially the new Danish legislation will have a huge impact on producers the reason being that producers now need to compensate municipalities for collection at households as well as sorting. The producer responsibility on packaging is expected to amount to 2,35 billion Danish kroner in net costs in 2025 when the legislation takes effect, collection and sorting being the costliest parts of the extended producer responsibility.
The Ministry of the Environment estimates that 41,000 companies will be covered by producer responsibility for packaging. In the political agreement, it was decided that there will be a treshold of 8 tonnes of packaging. It is estimated that around 8,000 companies will be covered, while around 32,900 companies are below the treshold, corresponding to 92% of packaging waste volumes being fully covered.
The treshold has been set based on a consideration of both easing the administrative burden for producers with small packaging quantities, but at the same time supporting the producers’ incentive for environmental design to the greatest extent possible. The treshold means that manufacturers below must report less information about the packaging they sell.
Producers below the treshold are still covered by producer responsibility costs for waste management, e.g. collection and recycling. It is not yet known how the obligation for companies below the threshold will be implemented in practice.
The treshold will be evaluated in 2027.
It is important to note that the producer responsibility systems that should be operative not later than 1st January 2025 will be financed completely by the producers’ financial contributions and revenues from sales of recovered packaging materials. The system finances the organizational, including a number of administrative functions, as well as the operational functions in connection with collection, sorting, and sales.
