Financing

By means of a packaging tax, producers, importers and distributors of packages products pay for the collection, sorting/processing and recycling of packaging waste. An annual total amount of € 115 million is reserved in a waste fund. From this fund, municipalities are paid for the collection and registration. The money received has to be invested in local waste policies.

 

Packaging is divided into three categories:

 

-          primary packaging: consumer packaging

-          secondary packaging: packaging used to hold several products together

-          tertiary packaging: packaging used to transport products

 

The tax tariffs have been calculated based on the damage the material does to the environment. The tariffs are (in €/kg):

 

 Material

 Primary packaging

 Secondary/Tertiary packaging

 Glass

 0,0456

 0,0160

 Aluminium

 0,5731

 0,2011

 Other metals

 0,1126

 0,0395

 Plastics

 0,3554

 0,1247

 Bioplastics

 0,0641

 0,0225

 Paper/Cardboard

 0,0641

 0,0225

 Wood

 0,0228

 0,0080

 Other materials

 0,1017

 0,0357