Environmental protection through financial incentives: How “plastic taxes” should promote the circular economy

To be the first climate-neutral continent in the world - this is the goal the European Union has set itself with the “Green Deal.” The comprehensive strategy aims to make the transition to a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive economy. This includes zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, decoupling growth from resource use, and leaving neither people nor the region in the lurch. With its wide range of measures and initiatives, the Green Deal covers various sectors, including energy, agriculture, industry, transport, and waste management.¹  
One of the central pillars of the Green Deal is the promotion of a circular economy – products and materials should be used, reused, and recycled for as long as possible to minimize waste and reduce resource consumption. The circular economy is seen as a prerequisite for achieving the EU’s climate neutrality target for 2050 and halting biodiversity loss. The Circular Economy Action Plan contains initiatives along the entire life cycle of products: It targets how products are designed, promotes circular economy processes, encourages sustainable consumption, and aims to ensure that waste is avoided and resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible.²
 

Another component of the action plan is the “plastic tax.” This has two objectives: Firstly, it is intended to promote recycling by creating incentives to use more recycled plastics for packaging and to increase recycling rates. This supports the goal of the circular economy to keep materials in the economic cycle. The tax is also aimed at reducing plastic waste: Taxing non-recycled plastic packaging is intended to reduce the amount of plastic waste and reduce the environmental impact of plastics. 
The individual EU member states can implement the tax, with the EU providing a uniform framework and the objectives mentioned above through a directive. However, the member states can determine the exact structure of the tax and the amount of the levies within a certain framework. Yet this flexibility is precisely the problem with the tax: The fact that implementation is not uniformly regulated means that each country has different requirements, many “optional” regulations, and different tax levels and structures. This often makes matters complex and confusing for international manufacturing companies. 
 

Since January 1, 2021, all EU member states have had to contribute EUR 0.80 per kg of non-recycled plastic waste to the EU budget. This “EU plastic levy” complements other regulations, such as the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive, the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, and the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive. It is intended to help ensure that all packaging on the European market is reusable and recyclable cost-effectively by 2030. 
Some European countries have already introduced taxes on plastic packaging or are planning to do so in the coming months. Other instruments with a similar effect are also being discussed, such as consumer taxes, extended producer responsibility, or other environmental taxes. 
 

¹ https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_de

² https://environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/circular-economy-action-plan_en?prefLang=de&etrans=de

Disclaimer: Greiner Packaging does not provide legal advice, but we continuously monitor and evaluate the impact of legal measures in all markets relevant to us. This document reflects our current state of knowledge (as of June 2024) in this regard but does not claim to be exhaustive.