It is estimated that a total of 1.1 million tons of packaging will be covered by producer responsibility, costing the approximately 41.000 affected companies DKK 2.35 billion annually to handle.

From July 1st, 2025, the responsibility will come into effect, but already from April 1st of this year, companies must register and report how much paper, plastic, glass, tape, clips, etc. they expect to use in 2024, and whether it is packaging that ends up with businesses or private households.

“It is an enormous task that must be undertaken by companies both individually and collectively. If you haven’t already started preparations, I would recommend allocating resources within the organization to get started as soon as possible,”

says Morten Harboe-Jepsen.

From waste to resources – and an opportunity to improve your business

At a glance the Extended Producer Responsibility might seem to be all bureaucracy and no fun – but in reality, the producer responsibility is an opportunity to improve your business.

Take the upcoming producer responsibility for packaging.

For each company, the producer responsibility is structured so that the more packaging they use, the higher the fee they must pay. But equally important, the fee also depends on the type of packaging involved.

The financial framework for the financing of waste management in the producer responsibility, provides discounts on the costs associated with the Extended Producer Responsibility if companies for instance use more environmentally friendly packaging types that are easier to reuse and/or recycle.

As a company, this will probably lead you to consider questions such as:

• How you design your packaging – is your packaging too big resulting in you transporting a lot of air?
• Which materials do you use in your packaging – can you switch or use fewer materials?
• Can you packaging be used more than once – if so, as recycled, or reused materials?

This way, the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging creates an economic incentive for companies to choose specific packaging types and can thus be a steppingstone to optimizing your business in several areas while reducing the overall environmental impact, improving the collection, and handling of packaging waste, and strengthen the circular economy.

More on the way

While packaging soon will have its own producer responsibility, other areas such as electronics has had an Extended Producer Responsibility for years – and more are on the way.

Emballageretur is part of Retur, a family of producer responsibility organizations (PRO’s) that handles the Extended Producer Responsibility on behalf of companies operating in Denmark and Danish companies operating abroad in the EU, Norway, Switzerland, and UK.

By handling the responsibility collectively Retur’s PRO’s ensure cost-effectiveness, economies of scale, development of innovative solutions, tools, a strong stance in legislative negotiations and legitimate data streams for their member companies.

Currently Retur’s PRO’s Elretur, Batteriretur, Emballageretur and Tekstilretur handles electronics, batteries, packaging, and textiles respectively thus offering a one-stop shop for companies who has one or more producer responsibilities – and they expect the family to grow in the coming years.

“Retur’s organization is based on almost 20 years of experience. After years of almost no development in terms of new producer responsibilities we are now witnessing a clear trend towards increased producer responsibility for waste management. For instance, a producer responsibility for textiles and fishing equipment containing plastic is on the way. One for wastewater is also in the works. We expect even more to come in the future and Retur is ready to help companies handle every aspect,”

says Morten Harboe-Jepsen.

Be sure to join Emballagereturs Panel on the upcoming Producer Responsibility for packaging and visit Emballageretur’s stand at LOOP, where you can get all you question regarding the Extended Producer Responsibility answered.