We would like to explain why. Our recommendation to postpone EPR should be seen in light of several factors:
The first deadline for registration and reporting was 31 August 2024.
At the time of writing, just over 5,000 companies have registered. This is only half the number of companies to which the Danish Environmental Protection Agency has sent letters because it assessed that they could be subject to producer responsibility.
Why is it a problem that more companies have not registered? Because …
The cost of managing packaging volumes is estimated at DKK 2.35 billion per year. This is a bill that Danish businesses must pay.
To handle both the task and the costs, we need everyone on board. That does not appear to be the case right now.
“Producer responsibility is structured in such a way that companies are collectively liable, and no matter what, more than one million tonnes of waste must be managed and a billion-kroner bill must be paid. But if you are not registered, you cannot be held accountable. This means that the companies that have registered are currently left with the full responsibility — both practical and financial. That is clearly not sustainable,” says Morten Harboe-Jepsen, CEO of Emballageretur.
The financial framework for producer responsibility is based on a system of penalties and bonuses.
Put simply, the easier the packaging is to recycle and the less packaging is used, the cheaper it will be for the company — and vice versa: the harder it is to recycle and the more is used, the more expensive it will be.
This means that producer responsibility is in itself a major cost for companies.
The new draft legislation proposes expanding the entire administrative setup around producer responsibility, including supervision. This is proposed to be financed through many different and unspecified fees. On top of this come the costs of municipal collection.
Of the total annual costs, compensation to municipalities for their waste collection is by far the largest item.
This compensation amounts to DKK 1.5 billion. Unfortunately, the current legal basis for producer responsibility does not specify how these costs are to be calculated, and it is up to the municipalities themselves to define how this should be done.
Previous draft legislation also included a requirement for municipalities to make waste collection more efficient, but this has been removed in the new draft. At the same time, the draft suggests that we will not be given proper insight or appeal options.
Last but certainly not least, costs can vary significantly from one municipality to another.
To ensure an equal distribution of costs, we have previously proposed establishing a Financial Clearing House. Read more about this here: Inadequate legislation could lead to distorted competition and waste chaos.
Whether there is willingness to establish a Financial Clearing House has not yet been clarified.
“There has been, and still is, considerable uncertainty about both the legal basis and the actual finances and implementation. Deadlines under producer responsibility have also been postponed several times in the past, and this has probably led a number of companies to wait and see,” says Morten Harboe-Jepsen.
In 2018, the EU decided that producer responsibility for packaging should be introduced. On 30 August 2022, a broad majority in the Danish Parliament adopted the decision to introduce producer responsibility in Denmark.
Denmark is therefore one of the very last EU countries to introduce producer responsibility for packaging.
With EPR for packaging, the EU aims to harmonise how producer responsibility is managed across Member States. This is why the EU has developed the Packaging Regulation. This Packaging Regulation was being negotiated in the EU at the same time as Denmark was preparing to implement producer responsibility.
As long as the EU negotiations were ongoing, a standstill period was in place, which affected Denmark’s implementation of EPR for packaging. Denmark cannot draft national packaging legislation until the EU legislation on which Danish national law must be based is in place.
This meant that Denmark had to change the original timetable for implementing EPR for packaging. First from January 2025 to July 2025. Then from July 2025 to October 2025.
According to the Ministry of the Environment, the reason for moving the implementation date for the second time is to allow for a transition period in which municipalities and producers have the opportunity to learn how to adapt to the producer responsibility rules in practice.
At the same time, a number of legal requirements and frameworks for producer responsibility have not yet been finalised, because the legislation is still under development. This makes it difficult for both companies and Producer Responsibility Organisations to properly prepare for the actual implementation.
“It is somewhat difficult to understand why more specific requirements are not being set. This is a problem we have pointed out several times, including in a letter to the Minister for the Environment. Potentially, Danish businesses are facing a huge unspecified bill as early as next year. It is simply not fair to companies that there is still no clarity this late in the process,” says Morten Harboe-Jepsen.
Emballageretur is involved in the negotiations on the upcoming producer responsibility scheme, and the lack of financial frameworks and heavy bureaucracy are precisely some of the points we have repeatedly raised as concerns.
They differ from the existing producer responsibility schemes for electronics and batteries, which Emballageretur’s sister organisation Elretur has managed for almost 20 years.
“We already have several well-functioning producer responsibility schemes that the upcoming producer responsibility scheme for packaging could be based on. We therefore find it quite difficult to understand why such heavy bureaucracy, control and supervision now needs to be introduced in this area, increasing the complexity of cooperation between the parties involved,” says Morten Harboe-Jepsen.
The ultimate consequence may be that the overall purpose of producer responsibility is drowned in rules and costs.
“The purpose of introducing EPR for packaging is to reduce the amount of packaging, ensure efficient collection and management of packaging waste, and motivate companies to develop better and more environmentally friendly packaging designs. As the draft legislation stands now, the purpose risks being lost in increased bureaucracy, difficult and cumbersome processes between the parties involved, major costs for businesses, more expensive packaging and, as a result, higher prices for consumers.”
Denmark is also one of the last countries to introduce EPR for packaging, even though the directive has been ready for years. If we exceed an EU deadline because we have waited until the last minute, Danish businesses should not have to bear the burden.
Rather than insisting on maintaining the current timetable, Emballageretur therefore recommends postponing the implementation of EPR for packaging until January 2026 and using the extra time to make the necessary adjustments to the legal basis and ensure full participation among the affected companies.
Read more at www.emballageretur.dk.