Extended producer responsibility for packaging
If you place packaging on the Danish market, you are responsible for making sure it is handled correctly when it becomes waste. We make the rules understandable and possible to meet.
Packaging in depth
About producer responsibility
Other product areas
What you must comply with for Packaging
Producer responsibility covers many different obligations. We have gathered the nine most common, so you can quickly see which ones apply to packaging.
Registration in the Danish producer register
Register in the producer register (with DPA) no later than 14 days before you first make products available on the market.
PRO required
Single-use packaging must go into a PRO. Reusable packaging is voluntary.
Relief for smaller companies
Below 8 tonnes you can report total weight only.
Eco-modulation
The contribution is modulated according to the packaging's design and recyclability.
Ongoing reporting to the PRO
Report volumes on an ongoing basis, monthly from 8 tonnes, otherwise quarterly.
Annual statement to DPA
Report the year's volumes to DPA by 1 June at the latest.
Financial guarantee
Only where municipal packaging waste has been allocated to you. Your PRO provides it for you.
Collection and treatment
You cannot go it alone. The PRO handles collection and treatment for you.
Self-monitoring
Carry out documented self-monitoring at least once a year. The PRO can do it for you.
Everything that goes around the product
Think of a bottle of wine. The product is only the wine itself, the liquid. Everything around it is packaging. The bottle, the capsule, the cork and the paper label.
It works the same way for every product. Packaging is the outer layer that protects and carries the goods, and that becomes waste once the product is unpacked. That applies whatever the material, from sales packaging to the transport packaging around the pallet.
See the material categories you report in
Are you the producer?
You are the producer the first time you place packaging on the Danish market. Here are four typical examples, but reality holds many more.
Factory in Denmark
You manufacture goods here and pack them for sale.
Import from abroad
You bring packaged goods into Denmark.
Online shop and distance selling
You send parcels to Danish consumers, including from abroad.
Own brand
You have the goods packed by someone else and sell them under your own name.
Recognise even one? Then you are the producer.
There are many more situations, and some sit in a grey area. If you are unsure, we work it out together.
Small volume, less work. Still an obligation.
The de minimis threshold is about volume. It decides how detailed your annual report has to be, not whether you are covered. If you make packaging available on the market, you have to report however little it is.
Read more about the de minimis thresholdNote. A low volume does not exempt you.
Whatever the volume, you have to be registered in the Danish producer register, report every year and pay the environmental contribution. The only thing the volume changes is how detailed the report is.
Under 8 tonnes
Keep it simple. You report the total weight for all packaging. Detailed reporting is optional.
From 8 tonnes
Detailed reporting is required. You split the volume across the individual materials: cardboard, paper, plastic, glass, ferrous metals, aluminium, beverage and food cartons, wood and the remaining categories.
A small company is not the same as an exempt company
There is no exemption from producer responsibility for being a small company or a micro company. Whether you have producer responsibility is decided not by your size, but by your role (manufacturer, importer, seller) and by how your packaging reaches the market.
Whatever your size, you therefore have to be registered in the Danish producer register, be part of a PRO for single-use packaging, and report every year. If you are unsure what applies to your situation, get in touch.
Annual report and ongoing environmental contribution
For packaging there is always an annual report to DPA. On top of that you report the environmental contribution on an ongoing basis, and how often depends on your volume.
You supply your volumes to us. We keep track of every deadline, so you always meet them on time.
The easier to recycle, the lower the contribution
Every material has a base price. On top of that comes eco-modulation. If the packaging is hard to recycle, the contribution goes up. If it is easy, you pay less.
You have to apply eco-modulation to your packaging from 8 tonnes per year. Below that threshold it is voluntary.
Understand eco-modulationContribution per material
Red packaging pays a surcharge on top of the base rate, and the money goes as a bonus to green in the same material. The proportions are indicative.
Do you have responsibility in several product areas?
One product can trigger several producer responsibilities at once. A cordless drill is packaging, batteries and electronics all at once. We cover every product area, with one subscription per area and one combined bill.
Questions about packaging
The questions we get most often from companies new to producer responsibility for packaging.
Compensation request
Requesting compensation for commercial packaging waste? Use the form to submit your request.
Let us carry the burden for your packaging
No notice period, no set-up fee, and one contact for all your product areas. Call or write, and we will work out what applies to you.
