New targets for packaging prevention and reuse

With the entry into force of the new Royal Decree 1055/2022 on packaging and packaging waste, new targets for prevention and reuse have been set.

According to the previous packaging law, Law 11/1997, only producers of household packaging were subject to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). However, with the entry into force of the new RD, industrial and commercial packaging products used for the transport and sale of products on the Spanish market will also be subject.

The new obligations include that packers must finance and organise the management of packaging waste on the market, a responsibility that previously fell exclusively on the end customer. In addition, they must also provide information on recycling and traceability targets.

Obligations on product producers include:

• Register in the register of product producers.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging placed on the Spanish market (through the Collective EPR System or the Individual EPR System) (to be added before 31/12/2024).
• Submit an annual packaging declaration.
• Comply with prevention, reuse and recycling targets.
• Elaborate and apply Prevention Business Plans, if the quantities of the boundary are exceeded.
• Establish a Deposit, Return and Refund System (DRS) for reusable packaging.

With regard to declarations, until 2021, the Annual Packaging Declaration (DAE) was processed by the regional administrations, in the case of Catalonia, through the Waste Service of Catalonia (SDR) (As of 2022, this process has been centralised through the website of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITERD).

The Prevention Business Plan (PEP), until 2021, was a three-year plan with annual monitoring reports, such as the DAE through SDR. It is now a five-year plan, with the submission of a single follow-up report after this period to review the objectives.

These provisions aim to promote more sustainable management of packaging and packaging waste, encouraging prevention, reuse and recycling for a cleaner and healthier future.