Six leading business organisations join forces to manage producer responsibility for packaging

A broad group of business organisations is now partnering with the non-profit Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) Emballageretur, which helps Danish companies meet the requirements of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging. EPR for packaging is a task with an estimated annual price tag of DKK 2.35 billion, and in just four months 41,000 companies will need to have control of how their packaging waste is managed.
Emballageretur is a non-profit PRO that, together with Elretur, Batteriretur and Tekstilretur, is part of the umbrella organisation Retur, which has almost 20 years of experience managing EPR on behalf of Danish companies. As the name suggests, Emballageretur ensures responsible management of packaging waste - both registration with the authorities and management of the packaging waste so it can be reused, recycled or disposed of responsibly.

From 1 January 2025, 41,000 companies will themselves be responsible for ensuring that their products’ packaging is taken out of the waste stream and reused or recycled. But already from January 2024, companies must register with the authorities and report how much packaging they expect to place on the market in the following calendar year, 2025. A total of 1.1 million tonnes of packaging is estimated to be covered by EPR, and the cost for the affected companies is expected to be DKK 2.35 billion per year.

This has now prompted a broad group of business organisations to enter into a partnership with Emballageretur. Their members will benefit from guidance on how companies should prepare for EPR and from practical help in meeting the requirements.

“As a PRO, Emballageretur has been established to act as an extension of our member companies in relation to the major task of ensuring that packaging waste in Denmark is reused or recycled to the greatest possible extent. We greatly appreciate that a broad group of business organisations is contributing to the task we are now about to carry out on behalf of thousands of companies,” says Morten Harboe-Jepsen, CEO of Emballageretur.

Partners in Emballageretur, in alphabetical order

APPLiA

EPS-branchen

FABA

GRAKOM

Medicoindustrien

VELTEK

The more, the better

So far, partnerships have been established with six business organisations, and Emballageretur expects to announce additional partnerships in the future.

“Producer responsibility must be handled collectively by Danish companies - both practically and financially. It is therefore important that we get organised as quickly as possible. And because producer responsibility also affects companies across industries, it is a major advantage when we work together across Danish business. We are in dialogue with several business organisations that also want to help ensure that as much packaging as possible is reused or recycled,” says Morten Harboe-Jepsen.

Emballageretur emphasises that all companies affected by EPR for packaging are welcome to become members of the PRO. In other words, it is not a requirement to be a member of one of the business organisations that partners with Emballageretur.

About Emballageretur

Emballageretur is a non-profit Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) that manages EPR for packaging on behalf of its member companies. We do this through responsible and cost-effective management of packaging waste, from the point where it is handed in at the recycling centre until it is either reused, recycled into new products or disposed of in an environmentally sound way.

Emballageretur is part of Retur, the umbrella organisation for the PROs Batteriretur, Emballageretur, Tekstilretur and Elretur, which has managed EPR since 2005. As a member of one or more PROs under Retur, companies receive help with managing their EPR obligations and gain access to the combined knowledge, expertise and international network of the organisation.

Through responsibility and innovation among suppliers and producers, Retur aims to play a major role in taking care of and protecting our shared resources, so that together we can make the circular economy a reality.