Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) becomes increasingly costly for both producers and consumers throughout a range of European countries. One example is the development of the eco-contributions in France that is projected for 2025 as we have reported in our recent blog: https://www.envenance-global.com/eco-contribution-fees-in-france-will-increase-in-2025.

For companies, i.e. the producers in the terminology of EPR, the financing of the organization of the collection and the recycling of their articles that fall into the EPR (e.g. WEEE, batteries, packaging) can represent a significant amount in the profit and loss statement. Any valid input for the budget plan and the according accruals is therefore appreciated. Fortunately, both authorities and schemes communicate whenever possible upfront about any price developments.

Sweden has now announced that it will increase the contribution fees for packaging with origin from private households. This concerns particularly paper, plastic, glass and metal materials (Source: https://npa.se/en)  As the Swedish collective scheme Närlingslivets Producentansvar comments, the logistics cost of collection from municipalities have increased at the same time as the collection volumes have increased also. On the other side, the volumes of paper and glass put onto the market have decreased. This leads to a lower income position for the collection schemes. The fees for packaging from generation sources other than private households, however, will remain stable for the time being. Based on the experience of the author of this blog, commercial and industrial packaging waste can be planned and organized more efficiently than operating a municipal collection infrastructure that needs to be ready to act anywhere on a state’s territory – particularly in larger country such as Sweden with a significant portion of both remote and rural areas.

The introduction of Packaging EPR in the UK has determined new methods of cost calculations for both schemes and producers. The charges are calculated on the basis of the previous year’s market volumes that are reported by the producers. The fees themselves are incurred from the 1^st April each year. This means, in return, that the fees for 2025 will not be known prior to the 1^st April 2025 which is too late for the producers' finananicial budget plans that are scheduled already in 2024. In order to respond to this issue, the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in the UK has now published a set of illustrative base fees for the compliance period 2025/2026 for each of the eight packaging categories in the UK.

envenance will continue to screen the market and publish more relevant news about this topic in this blog series. If you have any particular inquiries, please contact us.